Where Black Met Gold
by Anonymousness
Summary: Post ep. 50. Solomon survives via corpse corps grafts, and returns to make a play for Saya's heart just as her relationship with Haji is intensifying, while Nathan pursues his own mysterious agenda. A triangular love story with some surprises.
1. Act I: Where Black Met Gold

Let me know what you all think, I expect this piece to be at least a little bit controversial.

This story is rated primarily for infrequent violence, though I don't think it's any bloodier than the series itself, so if you watch the show, you shouldn't have a problem with it. It is also rated for adult themes and a teeny bit of mild citrus content. Appropriate warnings are posted at the beginnings of all chapters that contain significant violence or adult situations.

This takes place post ep. 50, sometime shortly after Saya regains her memories, and a few months after she wakes up. **MAJOR SPOILERS** **for episodes 47- 50**.

Customary legal disclaimer… in limerick form!

I don't own the series so please do not sue

It just gave me the urge to write something new

That disclaimer was quick

So now on with the fic

And please don't forget to review!

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_Where Black Met Gold_

It was nearly sunrise, the sky was beginning to pale in the east. He was about fifteen feet away, standing near the edge of the rooftop, with his back to her, his head covered by the hood of what looked like a black raincoat.

"Why did you save me?" she called out to the stranger.

"Because I could never allow you to get hurt," his voice was soft and melodic.

"Who are you?"

"Someone who once loved you, and loves you still." He turned his head and lowered his hood, exposing his profile, the light from the impending dawn illuminating a golden halo of hair.

"Solomon," she murmured, in astonishment.

"Yes," he said smiling, but not facing her.

"I was told that I killed you," she burst into tears, thinking of how she had been tortured by the guilt of causing his death, after he had given up everything for her. "And I could have never forgiven myself" she cried as she ran to embrace him, any lingering mistrust having somehow become irrelevant at the moment.

"Stop," he said, still not facing her. "It would be best if you stayed there for now."

She did as he requested, standing a few feet away from him. He continued to speak before she could ask why he had stopped her.

"I was very near to death that night, yes. But my life was saved, though much of my body wasn't."

With that, he finally turned to face her, gazing at her with his forest-green eyes, and exposing his whole face. Saya gasped.

There was a large, crescent shaped scar on the left side of his face, extending from his upper-mid-forehead, to near his left ear, to his chin, and then straight down the center of his neck. The stripe of skin left of the scar was just slightly paler than his own, but it was his hair that was the most striking, split down the center of his scalp. On the right side it was its original glistening wavy blonde, but on the left, his hair was a glossy, straight, jet-black, exactly as Moses once had.

"My big brother used pieces of the corpse corps to replace the areas that had crystallized."

Saya stared at him in awe and sadness for a moment. "Even though you left Diva?"

"Brother Amshel resented my treachery," he said, looking away. "But both he and I hoped that - I would one day father your children, though for very different reasons. I wanted to have a family with you." He gazed into Saya's eyes in an amorous daze for several seconds, before snapping out of it and looking out at the city. "My brother just wanted additional test subjects. In me he saw the opportunity to acquire yet another set of Queens, so when he found me, just after we killed James, he took me to his lab and began the process of repairing my body. After he was killed, my brother Nathan saw to it that my recovery continued. It was several months before I was well enough to go out into the world, and by then you had already entered your long sleep."

His eyes once again met Saya's as he approached her and gently took her hand, staring into her eyes.

"I want you to know that my feelings for you have not changed, nor has my desire to serve you." He looked toward the nearing sunrise, which had turned the sky to brilliant shades of pink and gold.

"I must go," he said, beginning to pull his hand from hers.

"Why do you have to leave now?" she asked, wiping a tear from her cheek.

"Staying out of the sun appears to significantly delay the onset of the _thorn_ that once afflicted those from which my body is now made." He looked to her and smiled. "But such limitations are a small price to pay for the joy of seeing you again, and I would gladly venture out in daylight, or face any other danger, to protect you, Saya."

He turned to leave.

"Solomon wait!" she cried just before finally, and fully embracing him. He immediately wrapped his arms around her, closing his eyes to enjoy the pure sensation of being so close to her. He had been waiting, and wishing for this moment for over thirty years.

"I am glad you're alive," she murmured into his shoulder. She gave into compulsion, and softly placed her petite hand on his left cheek, moving her palm slowly up the scared side of his face, and ran her fingers back through his hair, where black met gold. He smiled and disappeared in a blue streak of light.

She stood there for some time, silent and still, overwhelmed by her thoughts. Haji appeared a few feet behind her on the rooftop, his hand cradling the wound that had incapacitated him during the battle.

Haji watched Saya, and Saya watched the sunrise.

* * *

Note:

I know, some of you might be mad at me for messing up his pretty face, but if you watch the episode where he "dies" part of his face is crystallized. It seems pretty clear to me that he survived, at the end of the _death scene_, you can clearly hear him breathing, especially in the English dub, not to mention that during the series, every time a Chevalier appears to die, they always end up showing up later unless you explicitly see them as a pile of rubble. Why would Solomon be the only exception?

All criticism is welcome and very much appreciated.


	2. Shield in Paradise

David and Lewis, now well into their sixties, sat on the front lanai of the beachside condo that was currently serving as Red Shield headquarters, enjoying the outdoors before the inevitable afternoon heat drove them inside. Neither looked away from their respective laptops when they heard the van pull up.

The team walked up the driveway. Kai, who had been named the leader of the operation, walked in front of everyone else, wearing a green and white blood spattered Hawaiian shirt, his Colt M1911 tucked into his denim shorts. Now in his late forties, his hair was streaked with gray, but his face still bore the stubbornly determined expression it always had.

Kai was closely followed by David III, known as Dave, who was in his late twenties by then, and had inherited his mother's face though with his father's somewhat emaciated build and commanding voice.

Diva's twins, Ruka and Akahana, walked up the driveway side by side, talking quietly amongst themselves. They both wore full length, double-breasted vinyl trench coats that were identical save their color, which, as a matter of tradition, matched the color of their eyes, only a few shades darker so as to avoid drawing unnecessary attention that would come with wearing bright red or bright blue. Over their coats, they both wore black leather belts, from which their swords hung, Aka's at her waist and Ruka's on her back, both scabbards decorated with enamel flowers, Aka's in red and Ruka's in blue, as a reference to their names. Like their aunt, they both preferred to fight with katana, though theirs did not have the blood dispersing modifications. Their blood in itself was not toxic to the chiropterans they fought, since both they and their enemies shared blood with Diva. However, because of their extraordinary strength, speed, agility and training, they were still a force to be reckoned with, and only slightly less lethal than Saya.

Other than Aka's burgundy-brown eyes, they both looked almost exactly as their mother had during the last months of her life – black hair, fair skin and Riku's face. For this reason, the twins' appearances were still somewhat jarring to Saya, the first time she saw the girls after regaining her memories, she instantly reached her arm out towards Haji, as a silent signal that she required her sword. She then immediately came to her senses and begged the girls for their forgiveness.

Behind the girls walked Joel the seventh, a man in his early twenties that looked much like his father and had recently dropped out of college and joined the team, believing that he should take a more active role in the war than his ancestors. Ironically, though he was destined to lead the Red Shield one day, there was no question as to his being considered the newbie, and thus accorded little respect, though not for lack of trying.

Saya and Haji lagged behind, looking the same as they had thirty years earlier, other than Saya's hair, which she had decided to try leaving at its natural knee-length, though she did have Haji trim the front into her characteristic bangs. She wore the rest in a bun, held together by what appeared to be Koa wood hair sticks, each with a plastic red flower on one end. Aka and Ruka had bought them for her the previous day.

The face of Nathan Mahler appeared in the kitchen window, directly behind the couch where Lewis and the elder David sat. David opened his mouth to speak, but Nathan beat him to it.

"Have a good hunt?" Nathan asked cheerfully.

No one bothered to answer him.

The girls removed their swords and shrugged off their coats.

"These things are awful in this humidity," Aka groaned.

"Yeah, but they do cut down on the blood stains," Ruka added.

Kai immediately approached Lewis and the elder David.

"The intel was correct. We were able to infiltrate the base and intercept the cargo while they were transferring it from one plane to the other. We were able to kill six out of eight of them right off the bat, but three of them got loose, two of the damn things got all the way into downtown Honolulu. Saya and Haji took care of it though."

"Saya," said the elder David, "was there any civilian contact between chiropterans and civilians?"

"I don't think so, it was so early in the morning, no one was around."

"Were you able to find out what their origin was?" Lewis asked Kai.

"Yeah. Somewhere called, um, Kahulaw? I don't know how you're supposed to say it."

"You mean Kaho'olawe?" Lewis chuckled.

"Interesting," David said with a nod, "the entire island of Kaho'olawe was used as a firing range after World War II, it is supposed to be uninhabited now – an excellent location for a secret research facility."

Joel felt like he had to add his two cents. "I guess now its safe to say that the US is still actively pursuing the use of chiropterans as a weapon."

"No shit!" exclaimed Aka, playfully smacking him on the back of the head, "Once the Americans acquire a powerful weapon, they never give it up, no matter how dangerous it is for the world as a whole."

"Hey, give him a break," Dave intervened as he whipped out a cigarette, "we'll all be working for his ass one day."

Ruka immediately flicked the cigarette out of Dave's hand with such force that it most likely landed a quarter mile away. "We need you to be risking your life fighting monsters, not pissing it away with those things! You may be a _David_, but you're not immortal."

Nathan giggled. "_Not yet anyway,"_ he said in a voice only perceptible by the non-humans in the party. Ruka shot him a look that was a combination of questioning glance and threatening glare. "Breakfast in twenty, kay," Nathan added at his normal volume.

"You wanna go for a swim before breakfast?" Aka asked the party.

"I'm in!" Ruka said enthusiastically before turning to Joel and Dave, "what about you boys?"

"Sure," they answered indifferently and began ambling after the girls, who had already started jogging towards the beach.

Saya tugged on Haji's sleeve. "How is your wound?"

"I am alright," he said, with all his usual serenity.

"Aww Haji! Did you get impaled _again_?" Nathan butted in, "that really does seem to be your area of expertise as a chevalier."

Haji ignored him.

"This is Haji," Nathan narrated to an imaginary audience, "he plays the cello, never changes his clothes and gets impaled at least twice a week because he turns himself into a not-human shield for his not-his-girlfriend!"

Saya turned to Haji, speaking in a hushed tone. "I still don't quite get why he's here. Is he always this obnoxious?"

"I most certainly am!" Nathan declared. Haji glanced at Saya, implying his agreement with Nathan on the subject.

"Seriously though," Nathan continued, "you should go get _something_ _to drink_, it'll help you recover faster. After all, can't take care of her if you don't take care of yourself."

"He's right," Saya conceded.

"I always am," Nathan said in a tone that implied it was the most obvious thing in the world, "the garage fridge is fully stocked, now off you go," he said, lightly patting Haji on the back.

"Saya?"

"Yes Haji, go."

"Splendid!" Nathan exclaimed, "c'mon Saya, you can help me with breakfast."

Saya nodded as Haji left the room.

Nathan sighed. "Honestly, that man is passive-aggressive, only with out the aggressive."


	3. Two Queens

"Save the papaya seeds darling, the birds like 'em."

Saya had been assigned the task of chopping fruit while Nathan mixed up the pancake batter.

Kai walked in holding a coffee mug.

"Hey look, _two_ queens in the kitchen," he said with a snide chuckle.

"Oh, ha ha," Nathan laughed sarcastically.

Saya let out a sudden squeak as she caught sight of a gigantic black cockroach scurrying towards her across the floor. Saya was a warrior who could face death without fear, but at that moment, she obeyed her feminine instincts and jumped up onto the counter.

Kai strided forward to step on the thing. He gingerly put his foot down on the insect, and removed it to see if the job was done.

The invincible beetle was still very much alive, and then took flight.

Kai jumped back.

A blue streak then whizzed into the path of the roach. Nathan then appeared by the sink, and the unfortunate bug had been sliced in half.

"Ugh, I hate those nasty things," Nathan said, as he washed his hands. "Just when you think you have them cornered, they sprout wings."

"Just like a Chevalier," muttered Kai.

Nathan laughed hysterically for several seconds, and Saya couldn't help but giggle at the assertion as well.

"Right you are, Kai. Right you are," laughed Nathan.

Saya, having abandoned her perch atop the counter, resumed chopping, and resolved to ask him the question that she had been holding in all morning.

"Kai, why didn't anyone tell me that Solomon was alive?" she asked, trying to sound as if it was simply a _by the way _sort of inquiry.

"Guess it didn't come up, you're memories only just came back yesterday. Besides, it's been a while since any of us has seen him in person."

"Speak for yourself," Nathan chimed in as he continued to stir the batter.

Saya let out a frustrated sigh. "You're not telling me something. Kai, I really don't want people keeping secrets from me this time, so spit it out."

"Alright, alright. Don't get all pissy. Solomon used to be around all the time. He wasn't officially part of the Shield or anything, but he did help us out a few times, and he and Mahler gave me a hand with the twins when they were little, ya know, to them he was _ojisan_. But, uh, things have been kinda different lately since you – well, I'm pretty sure he and Haji still don't get along, I guess it's pretty understandable, since they both- " Kai stopped himself, "well, they did try to kill each other a few times. Anyway, apparently they got into some kind of confrontation at the tomb when you woke up, Solomon and hasn't been around since." Kai said, with a shrug. "Hey, who told you? Haji?"

"No one told me, I saw Solomon this morning. I would have been in deep trouble if he hadn't shown up when he did."

"Seriously?"

Saya nodded.

Kai spent a moment in silent thought. "Info on that mission was on a need-to-know basis only, I wonder how he knew where we'd be. I doubt you running into him was a coincidence, Hawaii seems to be kind of a weird vacation spot for someone who has to stay out of the sun. Someone must have leaked the information to him."

Nathan giggled mischievously.

Kai seemed to pick up the subtext of the laugh and glared at him. "Damn you Mahler! This operation is top secret! You could have put the whole mission in jeopardy! Why the hell did we bring you along, anyway?!"

Nathan rolled his eyes at Kai. "Oh c'mon, you know we can trust him, and I told him in person just in case the phones were bugged and besides, someone's got to put an end to their little feud! It's time for Solomon and Haji to just kiss and make up." Nathan put his fist to his chin in a thinker pose. "Hmm. I think that would probably work best with Saya standing in between them though."

"Too bad Haji didn't chase _you_ off," Kai muttered.

"First of all, Haji didn't chase him off, they had some kind of agreement where Solomon would stay away from Saya until she had remembered everything, and second of all, honey, Haji knows better than to mess with me cause then I would have to lay the smack down, and believe me, I could kick his pretty little ass if I wanted to. And even if I did leave, who would be the girls' producer and manager? You?"

"You're the one who got them into the whole music-business-opera-thing in the first place! They were doing just fine in medical school until you started in with that crap!"

"How could you _not_ want to share their gift with the world? And come now, do you really believe medical school will support them throughout the ages? I think not! If they go into hibernation, when they wake up, the medical profession would be completely different. Singing on the other hand, isn't nearly as fickle. The music in the background changes, but the vocals pretty much stay the same! Besides, you should thank me for bringing music into your home!"

"I guess they are pretty good, but I still can't stand opera. Unplesant memories, y'know?"

"Don't worry Kai, opera can't stand you either," Nathan said, feigning sympathy.

Kai turned to Saya. "Stuck with a nosey vampiric monster that dresses like a hooker from the 1980s," he muttered.

"I heard that!" Nathan squawked. "Well, Miami Vice called, they want their suits back!"

"Saya, can I borrow some of your blood?" Kai groaned.

"Well someone's grouchy this morning. Besides, you should know by now, that won't work!" Nathan sang teasingly.

"Whatever," said Kai as he rolled his eyes and left the room.

Nathan sighed with contentment. "He's almost as fun to irritate as James was."

* * *

Has anyone else noticed that about Kai's suits toward the end of the series?


	4. An Eventful Conversation, Part 1

"I like going out to eat with _you_ _two_, it makes me feel normal," Saya said cheerfully as she stepped out of the car.

"Likewise obachan," said the twins, simultaneously.

Saya began walking toward the door, when a familiar sound stopped her in her tracks.

_Haji's playing. Sounds like it's coming from the beach,_ she thought.

"Go on, sounds like _Yo-yo's_ calling you," giggled Ruka.

Aka grabbed Saya's wrist and placed a breath mint from the restaurant in her palm.

The two girls walked away, whispering amongst themselves, as always.

_Those girls, S_aya thought with a smile, as she began walking across the small wooded area between the house and the beach.

_It's weird, now that I've regained my memories, I kind of don't know how to act around Haji. _

_I kissed him._

_He said that he loved me._

_But that was thirty years ago._

She hiked up the small hill separating the forest from the beach, and stood where the dirt and pine needles met the sand. He was sitting on a large log of driftwood and she was about five feet behind him.

She simply stood there, letting the beauty of the moment penetrate her senses. The light from the sunset had created a shimmering golden pathway leading from the water's edge in front of her, across miles of ocean to where the sun was just beginning to sink into the sea. She smiled as she thought of how all the elements of the scene mixed together perfectly – the brilliant seaside sunset, the calming roar of the waves crashing and then creeping up onto the shore mixed with the music of an expert cellist, and Haji's subtle nods and the graceful fluid movements of his bow hand as he played.

Even though his eyes were closed and he seemed to be lost in the music, he did realize that she was there. Perhaps sensing that he was being admired, he simply continued to play.

_He is beautiful, _she thought to her self, _I can't believe I didn't notice it before. _

_A few weeks ago, when I saw him before I had regained my memories, I actually thought to my self, 'Wow, he's hot.' He was just my cute new cello teacher. I even worked up the nerve to flirt with him a little, just the standard flattery and excessive smiling. Now that I think about it, the look on his face was absolutely priceless. _

_But I think him being attractive didn't really occur to me before then._

_I guess when we were back at the Zoo, I was aware when he had become a man, but to me, that only meant that he was taller. It didn't occur to me to look at him as anything but family, but I guess as the years went by, things changed. I'm not sure when it happened and I didn't realize it at the time, but I guess I did fall in love with him. It wasn't the kind of love where looks matter though, but at the same time, he was more than just family or a friend. He was just soul mate, that's all there was to it. Him being attractive was kind of irrelevant. _

_I guess took him for granted._

_Maybe I noticed this time because I hadn't regained my memories. Then again, I did run into him before remembering last time too, back when I was still living with Dad and Kai and Riku. But when I saw him that night at school, I thought he was pulling a knife on me, that situation isn't really conducive to checking someone out. _

_But now I see it. He's down right breath taking. _

Her reflections were suddenly interrupted when a young man approached her. The complete stranger struck her as moderately good looking and seemed to be in his late teens, with tan skin and black but sun-streaked hair, wearing a damp tee shirt and board shorts.

"Hey, I think this is yours," he said as he handed her one of her Koa hair sticks, which apparently she had dropped. "Looks like the other one in your hair."

"Oh, thank you so much," she said sincerely.

The young man bashfully scratched the back of his head. "Um, hey, you wanna get a shave ice with me or somethin'?"

Haji's playing was momentarily marred by a slight screeching noise.

"Um," Saya struggled to think of something to say. "I'm sorry, but - I'm – I'm way too old for you."

The young man furrowed his brows, no doubt thinking she was mocking him.

"Pupule bobora," he grumbled as he continued on his way to wherever he was going.

Saya paid the young man no further mind, walked a few paces over to Haji and sat down close beside him. It was then that she noticed that he was quietly chuckling as he played.

"What?" she asked playfully. "Its true! I am way too old for him! I was born in what, 1833? I'm like, two hundred."

"That is why I find it amusing," replied Haji, as he continued to play.

_He has such a cute laugh, _she thought_. I almost forgot what it sounded like._

Saya remained silent until the song had finished. He placed his bow in the case, indicating that he was finished.

She watched as he placed his cello in the case, and she took notice of the secret sword compartment and spent a moment in silent thought.

"It was my dream to travel the world with you and my sword. Now that I think about it, that's what I've been doing all this time," she paused. "I'm not sure if it makes me happy or sad, the thought that I am already living my dream."

"Our dream," he corrected.

She turned to him and smiled, and the sight of it emboldened him to drape his bandaged, chiropteran arm over her shoulders and pull her close to him. She slid her hand across his back and gently grasped his side, resting her head against his chest.

"Saya," he said softly, "I do not believe that you have spent all these years traveling _with_ your sword. You have been traveling _for_ your sword."

She turned to look up at him, struck speechless by what he had said. It was as if he had just eloquently summed up most of her life in just a few words. Such was Haji's way, he didn't speak his mind often, but when he did, it always seemed to leave her dumbfounded.

He understood her.

Haji tenderly placed his human hand on her cheek; she smiled as he wiped away the tear that had just begun to leave her eye.

"Your right, Haji," she said as she placed her free hand on his knee, exhaling through pursed lips, trying to gather her courage. "Maybe after we finally finish off the corpse corps, we can do some travelling only for each other, and forget about the sword," she forced herself to blurt out, before she lost her nerve.

The smile Haji gave her at that moment was wider and more sincere than any he had shown in at least a century. She giggled as he held her face between his hands and covered it in kisses before finally finding her lips and kissing her so deeply that she bent over backwards until she was laying flat on the driftwood log. It was many long seconds before she could bring herself to stop him, on the contrary, for most of those seconds, she gave nothing but encouragement.

"Haji!" she giggled chidingly. "We're at a public beach, there are people around."

He sighed quietly as they both sat up.

"I take it you like that idea," she said as she brushed the sand off her shoulders.

"More than you know," he said, regaining his composure.

"Then we will, we can leave as soon as it's all over and if everything goes as planned, we'll make our final strike pretty soon. Then we can finally have our dream, the way we dreamed it." She paused as she came to a melancholy realization. "At least, for a little while."

He knew what she was referring to. "Saya, I will always be waiting for you when you wake."

A teasing, effeminate voice came from behind them. "It doesn't have to be that way," Nathan sang.

"Go away Nathan!" Haji snapped, that being one rare occasion where he was annoyed enough to do so. He killed enemies more often than he snapped at them.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I sensed that time was running out for me to deliver my message," Nathan said as he examined his own fingernails. "There is a way that Saya can permanently avoid her little thirty year naps."

"How?" Haji asked, irritation having turned to interest.

Nathan smiled knowingly. "I think it's time you two got a lesson in chiropteran biology."

* * *

Note on Hawaiian/Pidgin slang: Pupule means crazy in Hawaiin/Pidgin. Bobora is Pidgin/slang for a Japanese person who has just arrived in Hawaii. Not a polite thing to say.


	5. An Eventful Conversation, Part 2

Nathan turned to them. "A Queen appears to stop aging in her late teens, but she does not reach sexual maturity until she is well past her fifties, at which time her fertility cycle begins. Like a human female, she must _periodically_ shed and renew her reproductive abilities, but for a Queen, this regeneration is extremely stressful on her body, making it necessary for her to go into hibernation during the thirty-year process." Nathan laughed briefly. "I guess you could say that your little incident in Vietnam was just a very bad case of PMS."

Saya shot to her feet, ready to rip Nathan apart for speaking so lightly of such a tragic incident. Nathan calmly continued talking as he dodged each of her attempted blows. "Like a human female, if a chiropteran Queen becomes pregnant, her fertility cycle stops. However, a Queen can only conceive once in her lifetime, so once she has done so, her cycle ends, thus ending the need for hibernation."

Saya's rage evaporated and she stopped dead in her tracks. "So if I get pregnant," she turned to Haji. "I won't have to sleep anymore?"

Nathan smiled. "Yes honey, that is exactly right. But there is a catch."

Saya and Haji turned back toward Nathan.

"A Queen can only conceive during her first time having intercourse."

Saya's eyes narrowed. "Somehow I find it hard to believe that Diva was a virgin when she raped Riku."

"I know, I know, even Amshel thought she had mated before, but he was misinformed. Diva once confided in me that every time she had been asked to mate with a human, she would simply kill him and tell Amshel that she had done the deed with him first. I learned from personal experience that whenever she was to mate with one of her Chevaliers, she would just make said Chevalier promise to tell Amshel that they had done it, and naturally all of the Chevaliers agreed since not even Amshel had higher authority than Diva herself. As for Amshel and Diva, well I don't know what the deal with that was. From what I could see, in general, Diva was terrified of sex - humans aren't the only ones who fear what they don't understand, and love and intimacy were foreign concepts to her. Also, do me a favor and do some research on the symptoms of extreme childhood neglect and isolation – in such cases the victim often spends the rest of their life thinking and acting like a very disturbed child. I would imagine that's why she finally choose Riku, because he was a child too."

"Then why did the Chevaliers refer to her as their mother and lover?"

"They got that term from me, it's the literal meaning of the honorific used to by Chevaliers when addressing their Queen or their Queen's sister, though I must say, it looses a great deal in translation, it's meaning is far more complex than it sounds. But trust me, to Diva, Chevaliers were nothing more than surrogate fathers, brothers or sons, depending on her whim at the moment." Nathan's tone suddenly darkened. "They were made only for Amshel's schemes while exploiting Diva's desire to have a family." Nathan paused to collect himself. "Anyway, I know the virgin prerequisite sounds odd, but keep in mind that when a new chiropteran is made, there is blood involved, and in general, the same is true when a girl looses her virginity, if you take my meaning. Now, I know you and Haji have had quite a bit of time to get down to business, but judging by the fact that you are an insufferable prude and Haji is the most sexually frustrated person I have ever seen, then I think it's not too late."

Saya and Haji glanced at each other uncomfortably. Saya gave a slight nod.

"Good. Now, I trust you both know that it is impossible for Haji to impregnate you." Nathan smirked. "You need someone else for that."

Haji scowled a Nathan, who immediately burst out laughing.

"My word! If looks could kill I would have just dropped dead! Save your dirty looks for Solomon!"

"Solomon?" whispered Saya.

"Yes honey, he's the only one capable of fathering your children, being the Diva's only living blood-Chevalier."

"So then it's true then, you're _not_ Diva's Chevalier."

"Oh holy cow! Do I really have to spell it out for you? I was not made by your sister! I was made by your mother!"

"My mother?"

"Yes."

Haji looked at him questioningly. "If you were not Diva's Chevalier, why did you choose to serve her?"

"When I found out that the girls survived, I wanted to help look after them, I felt I owed it to their mother. After all, their she did give me ungodly powers and eternal youth and I suppose I still have a little bit of that famous Chevalier loyalty in me as well."

Haji was not satisfied with that answer. "Why did you choose to serve Diva instead of Saya?"

"Well, first of all, I didn't want to get involved in your little suicide pact, but there were other reasons too. Diva did have that heavenly voice, but mostly it was because I felt sorry for her. You may have some serious issues honey, but you are nowhere near as messed up as Diva was. I did what I could to help her be free of Amshel, but he was all she knew and she was dependant on him, so in the end there was only one way she could escape his experiments. It is a pity that you got to Amshel first, I was just biding my time." His voice changed to an intimidating demonic growl. "I would have made sure he got what he really deserved." Nathan paused and regained his usual cheerful, effeminate tone, "but I guess you snooze, you loose."

Saya was silent for a moment, digesting what he had said.

"Why are you telling me all of this now?"

"Well, you've been pretty busy since you regained your memories, and the last time you were awake, I was supposed to be your mortal enemy." He let out a slight laugh. "Believe me sweetheart, I am not getting involved in this just to get my brother laid. I just don't want to see our kind go extinct, not while I can help it, anyway."

"If you are so dedicated to preserving chiropterans, then why are you involved with the Shield?" asked Haji.

"The creatures created from the delta series are not real chiropterans, they are man made abominations and the world would be better off without them. Besides, I am not really part of the Shield, my loyalty is to the Queens and the Queens alone. Haji, you of all people should understand that. You serve Saya, not the Red Shield, and you know damn well that if Saya would have come over to Diva's side all those years ago, you would have followed her, however reluctantly."

Haji glared at Nathan.

"Oh! There's that look again! I better go before Haji scowls me to death," Nathan said as he took a few steps toward the house, but then stopped and turned to face them again. "Oh, and when it comes to you getting pregnant, I wouldn't put my money on any new-fangled scientific procedure, artificial insemination will not be successful."

"How could you possibly know that? They couldn't have tried it," Haji said under his breath.

"Oh yes we did," Nathan said in his most teasing tone. "I bet even Haji doesn't know how we got the _materials_ though! Oops! I think I said too much!"

Saya turned to Haji only to see that he was just as confused as she was, if not more.

"What are you talking about?" Haji demanded.

"Oh honey, don't make me tell you," he sighed. "Well, I guess I might as well, since I came here to prevent you two from getting it on, and this ought to do the trick – Haji you must remember a certain very lovely girl you met in Hong Kong, I think it must have been around say - 1973. We picked her out for the job because she looked a bit like Saya. We extracted your genetic material from her."

Haji's eyes widened to an unnatural degree, his head snapped to the side and he stumbled, as if he had been slapped in the face. Saya stared at him, horrified.

Nathan was clearly quite entertained, and grinned in delight.

"I guess you two have a lot to talk about, so I'll leave you to it. Just think about what I said, honey. I know you two have had a lot of weird things happen to your relationship over the years , but would it really hurt to add one more? Haji got one the side, now I think it's your turn, Saya. Solomon may not be as pretty as he used to be, but really, a girl could do a lot worse." Nathan disappeared into a blue streak.


	6. An Eventful Conversation, Part 3

By that time, the sun had sunk beneath the horizon completely, and the light of the moon and stars subtly illuminated the sand and sea.

Saya stood a few paces away from Haji, with her back to him.

Haji drew in a deep breath. "It was shortly after the incident in Vietnam. I was -" he paused, looking for the correct words. "I was not myself, and - , and I thought I had lost you forever." He took a step toward her. "But that is no excuse for such disgusting conduct. I do not deserve your forgiveness."

Saya neither spoke nor moved. Sensing that he was no longer wanted, Haji turned to leave, his human hand formed into a fist so tight that his fingernails broke the skin of his palm. She called after him.

"Haji wait."

He instantly obeyed.

It was several seconds before she began to speak again. "I'm not mad at you because of what you did, I have no right to be. You have broken no vow, neither of us ever made any promises when it came to that and -" she turned to face him, but did not look him in the eye. "I never really expected you to wait this long for me anyway. It's just that -" she took a step toward him. "You're keeping secrets from me, even though you must know how much that hurt me last time. I know that the status of our relationship has been kind of up in the air for a really long time, but regardless of that, for most of that time you were the only friend I had, the one person I trusted completely with everything, my life, my feelings, even my heart. It hurts to think that you don't trust me with your secrets, I trust you with mine." She raised her eyes to meet his. The truth was, as she was scolding him for keeping secrets from her, she wasn't just thinking about a tryst that had occurred over sixty years ago, she was also thinking about how he had not told her that Solomon was alive.

"I want you to make me a new promise."

"Saya -"

He was terrified of what she might ask of him.

"I want you to promise not to keep secrets from me."

He silently exhaled, relieved that her request was so benign. "If that is your wish."

"That's another thing," she said, not yet having abandoned her upset tone, "I don't want you to say that anymore, got it? You're my equal, so I want you to start acting like it."

She had more or less ordered him to stop letting her order him around, but such had been the nature of their relationship for so long, the irony was lost on both of them.

"Saya, do you really mean that?"

"Yes."

He narrowly stopped himself from uttering the phrase she had just asked him to abandon.

"Then I promise I will do both of those things to the best of my ability, but that will also mean that I will never stop serving you."

"But I don't want you to be my servant, I want you to be my -" she paused. "I want you to do what you wish to do."

"That is why I will not stop serving you, because it is my wish to do so. Nothing could ever make me happier than to make you happy." His matter-of-fact tone made the words all the more potent.

"Haji -" she said breathlessly as he walked toward her until they were standing toe to toe. She looked up into his eyes, the bottomless black of the night sky wreathed in the pale blue of a sunny day, cosmos unto themselves, with a gravitational pull that drew her closer and closer to them until their lips touched. Though it was gentle and somewhat brief, the kiss held infinite warmth.

"Haji?"

"Yes."

"Before, when I said that I wasn't upset about that other girl, I kind of lied."

"I know," he whispered with a tiny hint of a smile.

"I really have no right to be jealous, I guess I have just gotten spoiled over the years, having you all to myself."

"I know."

"But I did mean what I said before, the secrecy bothered me, I really do want there to be no more secrets between us."

Reticence was Haji's natural state of being, but at that moment, Saya sensed something in his silence.

"What is it, Haji?"

"I can think of only one thing that I still deliberately keep secret from you," he said softly.

"Tell me."

"Saya, I am not sure this is the best time."

"Please Haji."

He gave a slight nervous smile as he released her and knelt beside his cello case, still open and lying beside the driftwood log. He slipped one of his fingers underneath the blue velvet lining and pulled something out, closing his fingers around it before Saya could see what it was.

"I really did try not to love you, I have always been a stubborn man, and I knew that they had brought me to the zoo to – I didn't like the idea of being used, of just playing right into their plan. I tried not to fall in love with you, but -" he smiled and shook his head, "It just couldn't be helped. Even back then, before I became your Chevalier, there was nothing I wanted more than to make you mine. " He gazed down at the hand closed around the object. "But times were different then, to ask you to become my lover would have been an insult to your honor, and not the conduct of a gentlemen. When a respectable man wanted to be with a respectable woman, there was only one thing to be done. I went to -" He turned to look at her, "_speak with Joel._"

Her heart skipped a beat. She had been raised as an upper class lady of the nineteenth century, she knew what that meant. If a man said he had _spoken with a girl's father_, what he really meant was that he had asked for her hand in marriage.

"He immediately gave his consent, since a union between us had been his design all along," Haji continued. "He also gave me this." Haji opened his hand to reveal a gold ring, with a solitary gem in a setting shaped like a rose. The moonlight reflected off the surface of the jewel, revealing that it was a deep shade of red, most likely a garnet. "Apparently he had it made in anticipation of the occasion."

"It's red," she said softly and then gave a brief giggle. "It must have been Joel who picked it out, if it had been you, it would have been pink."

"Yes," he said with a smile and gazed at her for a moment before letting out a deep sigh. "I was so nervous about asking you, it seemed that every time I made up my mind to do it, the moment would end up being wrong. Like that day on the boat, I was going to, but you seemed so depressed. Or at - " he paused. "The picnic by the ridge."

"The ridge - " Saya stammered. "You mean – _that_ day?"

"Yes."

She gasped as a tear rolled down her cheek. "I remember it now, that ring. After you fell, when I was looking through your clothes for your pocket knife, and I found a ring, but I was so panicked, I didn't think anything of it."

The moment he saw the tear, he slipped the ring into his pocket and pulled her close to him. She shut her eyes tightly around her tears.

"After that, everything changed," he said as he held her head to his chest, as he always did whenever she cried. "I knew that your only desire was to destroy Diva, and I could not compete with that, nor did I want to get in the way of your goal. So I decided to wait, I still hoped that someday, we would get another chance."

She slowly wrapped her arms around him, and clung to him tightly.

"Haji," Saya whispered against his coat.

"Yes?"

"I love you."

His eyes slowly closed.

"I love you."

They held each other in silence for some time. Neither spoke because it seemed that nothing more need be said.

Eventually, Saya's mind returned to the revelations from earlier that evening.

"Haji, what do you think about what Nathan said?"

"About how to end your sleep?"

"Yes."

"I think it is entirely your decision," he said quietly.

"I didn't ask if you think I should do it, I asked what you think. How do you feel about it?"

"My feelings on the subject are not important."

"Yes they are!" she said vehemently. "I'm not asking you as my Chevalier, I am asking you as my boyfriend."

He smiled subtly at the fact she had actually called him her boyfriend, and took several seconds to consider his response. "Much as I dislike the idea of him -" he paused, searching for a word that wouldn't create a bitter taste in his mouth, but couldn't find one, so he simply skipped ahead to his main point. "I believe the discomfort from that would be nothing to the joy of being with you always and raising a family with you, to no longer have to spend thirty years cut off from my reason for being."

"I could finally have a normal life," she murmured. "A real, normal life and family – with you." She looked up at him, and when he saw the happiness and hope in her eyes, he couldn't help but kiss her. When their lips parted, she kissed him again on the cheek and began walking back toward the house.

"Saya, where are you going?" He said as he began walking beside her.

"To find Nathan."

"Why would you want to do that?" Haji asked, puzzled as to why anyone would intentionally subject themselves to Nathan's presence.

"So we can make some kind of arrangement with Solomon. Then I'll never have to sleep and you'll never have to wait for me again."

It was always difficult to tell what Haji was feeling, but at that moment, it seemed that even he didn't know.

Saya grasped his hand as they walked. His bandaged demonic fingers closed gently around it.

"Saya?"

"Yes?"

"The ring – would you -" he paused nervously. "Shall I put it away or – would you like to -" he paused again, "to wear it?"

"Would _you_ like me to wear it?"

"Yes, I would, if that is your -"

"Haji!" she scolded.

"Sorry," he murmured bashfully.

Saya smiled as she reached into his front pocket, pulled out the ring and slipped it onto her right ring finger

She rose to her tiptoes to kiss him, but even that wasn't quite far enough, so he bent down to meet her lips.

"Does this mean we're engaged?" she asked shyly.

"Yes, I believe it does."


	7. The Nature of my Game

Nathan sat on the lanai with a pair of headphones on, blasting the music so loud that it could be heard quite clearly from ten feet away. His eyes were closed as he tapped the arm of the chair with his index finger and spasmodically nodded his head to the music.

Saya and Haji stepped onto the lanai and stood in front of Nathan, who appeared not to notice them, and paid them absolutely no mind until the song had finished.

"Judging by the canoodling you two were just doing, I would assume that Haji is no longer in the proverbial dog house." He said as he opened his eyes and finally removed his headphones.

"Not that it's any of your business, but no, he's not -"

Nathan caught sight of the ring on her finger. "Oooooo!" he hooted, "I think Satan's lacing up his ice skates! I never thought I would see the day!"

Saya blushed and Haji just looked annoyed.

Nathan bounced in his chair and clapped his hands before he suddenly calmed down. "So, is there something you want to talk to me about?" he said with a knowing smile.  
"Yes, I wanted to, um," Saya paused uncomfortably, "make some kind of, um, arrangement with Solomon, so I wont have to sleep anymore."

Nathan clapped his hands softly. "Splendid. Alright now Haji, you'd best buzz off, leave this to us."

"But Saya's -"

Nathan quickly cut off his protests. "Bzzzzzz-zzzzz-zzz!"

Haji rolled his eyes and reluctantly walked away.

Saya sat down beside Nathan. "So um, how is this going to work?" Saya said, still quite uncomfortable with the subject. "Should I call him or something? I guess you have his number."

Nathan laughed. "Oh yes, you should call him." He pressed his middle, index and ring finger against his palm to form the shape of a phone, and put it to his ear. "Oh hi Solomon, Saya speaking, I was wondering, if its not too much trouble, could you possibly deflower and impregnate me? What? You'll pick me up at eight? Oh, are you going to take me to dinner first or should we just get right to it?" he mocked.

"Nathan, will you be serious!" Saya said exasperatedly.

"Oh now where's the fun in that?" Nathan let out a sigh. "Oh well, if you insist. I guess you would prefer if I just went and talked to him."

"Yes, that would be much better," said Saya, relieved that she was no longer obligated to make such a horrendously awkward phone call.

"Alright, I'll talk to him _for_ you, sheesh, what is this, the sixth grade? I guess then he can come over and you two can discuss logistics."

"Thank you."

Nathan, thinking that the conversation had ended, put on his headphones and began searching for whatever track he had in mind to listen to next. Saya didn't move. He removed his headphones once more.

"Was there something else?"

"Um, yes," said Saya, "I was wondering if, um, maybe you could tell me about my mother. I really don't know anything about her, except that her name was Saya."

"Saya was not her name, it was her title. It means 'Queen,' more or less."

"What was her real name then?"

Nathan let out a genuine melancholy sigh. "Alas, I was not permitted to know her first name. I was not even allowed to speak to her directly, I was nothing more than a human, and a lowly one at that."

"If they thought you were so inferior, why were you made into a Chevalier?" asked Saya.

"Back then, when a pair of Queens came of age, they would each create two Chevaliers, but those two Chevaliers were destined for very different roles. One was destined to be the Queen's Consort – her lover, protector, eternal companion, and of course, her own personal blood bank. But I was the other kind of Chevalier, known as a Groom, slaves, more or less, made into Chevaliers only to be the biological fathers of a Queen's sister's children. Typically Queens choose their Consorts from the crème de la crème of human civilization – great heroes and warriors, and those men were destined for a life of near eternity at the side of their Queen. But us lowly Grooms, we were made only to be used and thrown away, no one cared much for our feelings. I was raised in a family of peasant farmers, one of six surviving children, the chiropteran elders choose me as a groom me because I had a 'good face,' whatever that means." Nathan let out yet another sigh. "I think that's why I have always liked Haji so much, he and I have a lot in common. We were both sold by our families at a young age and were supposed to father the next generation of Queens, but we both managed to weasel our ways out of that gruesome fate. Haji did so by, for all intents and purposes, becoming your Consort instead, I mean, consummation aside, what has he been these past decades if not you life partner, body guard and blood bank? My escape, on the other hand, was far less romantic. After recovering from my rebirth as a Chevalier, I was brought before my Queen's sister to carry out my destiny as a Groom," Nathan let out a brief giggle. "But let's just say that flower had already been plucked long before I got my turn with it. When my bride's dirty little secret got out, it was made known that because she had already lost her virginity, she would never be able to conceive. Thus I was deemed useless and cast out to fend for my self, left to wander the ages, immortal and free."

"Didn't you know _anything_ about my mother?"

"Not much, like I said, someone as low as myself was forbidden to speak to chiropteran nobility unless directly ordered to do so. However, I was put to work in the gardens during the years between being bought and being reborn, and I used to see her there often. She adored the garden, whenever I saw her there, I would cut a few flowers for her." He let out a sigh. "She was more beautiful than the glittering stars, and she had a gorgeous voice too, you know, even Diva and her girls couldn't compare. For me, that was the highlight of each day, watching her stroll – no float through the gardens, singing like an angle amongst the flowers." He sighed once more and gazed out into the night for several seconds before suddenly turning back toward Saya. "Lets see, what else?" He put his index finger to his chin. "Oh, she was a great shot."

"Great shot?"

"Archery, darling, archery. Bloody hands were considered to be beneath a Queen's dignity, but she also needed to be able to join her people in battle if necessary, so they were always trained in the use of weapons. Your dear mother's favorite was the bow, or at least I would assume so, I used to see her practicing nearly every day." He let out a brief chuckle. "I bet she could hit a flea while riding at a full gallop." Nathan paused and put his finger to his chin again. "I'm afraid that's all I know. Other than averting my gaze as I silently gave her flowers, the only time I really interacted with her was on, well, I guess you could call it my _wedding day_, when she ritualistically slit my throat before gifting me with her blood." Nathan's voice became uncharacteristically low and somber. "I know only what I observed. Sadly, I knew nothing of her thoughts, dreams, feelings, except what came out in her singing."

"Did you know my father at all?"

"He was imported from another region shortly before the ceremony, so no. All I remember is that he was a brave man with red hair and fair skin, I suppose you inherited his complexion."

"Nathan, what caused our kind to die out?"

"The same things that causes the extinction of modern species – a mixture of natural and man-made factors. Our kind was always intimately connected with humans, them being not only our food source, but also our means of reproduction. Because we were so dependent on humans, we began to get involved in their meaningless conflicts, taking sides and fighting against each other. But even in our golden age, our numbers were never prolific, generally not much more than a dozen sets of Queens. While the humans could afford to send countless thousands off to die in battles, our kind could not. Our numbers got smaller until our kind seemed to be lost to antiquity, thus you and the twins are the only full-blooded chiropterans living in this world, or at least you're the only ones I know of."

Saya sat reflecting on what he had said when Kai's face appeared in the window.

"Dinner's ready. I know you and the girls had a late lunch, but I figure you bottomless pits are always up for another meal."

"Did you cook?" asked Saya.

"Yup."

"Alright, I'll be right in."

Saya stood and turned to Nathan as she was about to walk through the door. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it honey."

Nathan put on his headphones once more.

"The board is set," he whispered smugly to his imaginary audience, as he switched to a new play list, a Rolling Stones mix that seemed to stick out amongst the predominantly classical selections. He scrolled down to "Sympathy for the Devil."


	8. Blood Loss

This chapter contains descriptions of blood and violence and such. Fairly warned be ye, says I.

They glided effortlessly across the floor as if they had danced together a thousand times before, but really, it had only been once, many, many years ago.

Somehow she knew that the room would have been spinning even if they were not, it all seemed to be a blur, a meaningless backdrop behind him.

The music stopped, but he released neither her hand nor her waist. She stood there, transfixed by the smiling face framed by golden hair.

"I am so glad I finally got to dance with you again," he said as he pulled her even closer.

She could feel the desire in his gaze warming her to her very core, his eyes lush and green like the places he had once promised to show her, lined with long perfect lashes that almost seemed wasted on a man.

She looked away.

"Where did everybody go?" she asked as she looked around the ballroom, and noticing that the other guests had left.

He put his middle and index finger to her chin and turned her head back toward him. She stared up at him with flushed cheeks and half-lidded eyes as he leaned closer and pushed up on her chin, causing her head to tilt back.

The way he kissed her was so passionate and yet so decadently unhurried.

With one hand around her waist, he pressed her body against his, using the other hand to softly caress the skin left bare by her backless dress. Her arms found their way around him, palms resting on his lower back.

Hypnotized by sensation, it was some time before any thought came into her mind.

There was only one thought that could possibly break the spell she was under.

_This is wrong. I love Haji. _Her mind cried as she pulled her lips from his and halfheartedly tried to escape his embrace, only causing him to tighten his hold on her body and redirect his kisses from her lips to her neck.

Her lips parted in a silent, breathy moan as his lips gently pinched and caressed her skin, his fangs occasionally grazing her flesh.

She was loosing herself. She sighed his name.

She gasped and her fingers fanned against his back when he suddenly sunk his teeth deep into her neck.

Her eyes shot open when she realized that he was drinking her blood.

"Nooooo! Stop!" The scream echoed throughout the room.

Saya sat up in bed and panted as she wiped the sweat from her brow. She was awake now, but she heard it again, someone screaming.

"Noo! Stop! Nooooooo!" It was coming from somewhere outside of her room.

She jumped out of bed, Haji stood up from his chair in the corner and they both went running down the hall towards the origin of the screams. Tracing the noise to the back patio, Haji and Saya flew through the open sliding glass door. A bare light bulb above the backdoor illuminated the scene.

Dave was lying on the patio with a massive puncture wound in the center of his chest, blood dripping from his mouth as he coughed. A growing pool of blood surrounded him, and a still smoldering cigarette lay beside him. Ruka was kneeling at his side sobbing as Aka frantically tried to slow the bleeding. Nathan stood a few feet away, his face wrinkled in disgust as he used a frilly handkerchief to clean his blood soaked right hand.

Ruka turned to Nathan. "Why?" she screamed in anguish. "Why?"

"Don't cry dear, you know how to fix this," Nathan said comfortingly.

By this time the rest of the household was now bearing witness to the scene, Lewis was the only one to whom it occurred to call 911.

"Ojisan, how could you?" Ruka sobbed.

"So you can make him yours, my darling. It really is for the best, his mortal life will end and then you can give him a superior one. I've just given you a little extra motivation," Nathan replied casually.

Ruka shot to her feet and flew at Nathan in a rage only to be effortlessly pushed back, her feet leaving muddy skid-marks in the lawn. She immediately charged at him again, her eyes glowing blue with fury as she let out a fierce but woeful battle-cry. Nathan unflinchingly slapped her hard across the face, sending her flying backwards across the patio until she hit the side of the house, leaving a large dent in the metal siding.

Ruka slid down against the wall, until she was sitting limply against it. Nathan approached her. She weakly glared up at him.

"You can fight me or you can save him, make your choice, but time is running out, my darling," Nathan said as he disappeared into the night.

Dave wearily turned his head and looked at Joel. "Here's your lesson for today rookie," he paused as he coughed. "Chevaliers can be useful sometimes, but their loyalty isn't to the shield or the human race. No matter how trustworthy they might seem, they always have their own agenda. Never let your guard down unless you want to become a pawn in one of their games -" Dave coughed again, this time causing some blood to gurgle up from his lungs. He cleared his throat hoarsely and hocked, spitting the blood out beside him.

Ruka looked off in the direction to which Nathan had fled, her hands formed into tight fists as she stomped on the patio in her frustration, leaving a large crack in the pavement. It only took her a moment to decide her next course of action. She limped over to Dave and knelt beside him once more, cradling his head in her lap.

"Dave, I can save your life, if I give you my blood, you wont die."

"I've read the diary, I know what will happen," Dave said through his gritted teeth.

Ruka used her own fingernails to slit open her palm, and moved it toward his lips.

He slapped her hand away. "No."

"Dave please -"

"No Ruka," he slowly turned his head and looked at his father, who had just knelt by his feet. "I would become something that shouldn't exist."

"But you have to live!"

"Who says I'm going to die?" He weakly lifted his head and looked at his wound. "Okay, _maybe_ I'm gonna die."

"I can't loose you, you've always been there for us. What would I do without you?" Ruka frantically cried.

"You'd fight." He took in a ragged breath. "You'd fight until every last one of them is in hell, where they belong."

She insistently moved her bleeding hand to his lips once more, but he firmly grabbed her wrist and pushed it back toward her, until it was pressed against her chest.

"No. Ruka, please don't. I'm begging you. I'll - You'll be okay."

He released her hand as his chest slowly deflated.

The elder David lunged forward, seizing his son's hand.

"Junior?"

"Junior?"

"Junior!"

The rest of the team looked on in disbelief as the siren of the approaching ambulance became audible.


	9. The Vampire of the Pink Palace

The guests sleeping in the next room were ideal, they seemed fairly young and healthy.

His procedure was always flawless. His early medical training combined with decades of experience had allowed him to perfect the process.

When he was at his New York apartment, or his cottage in France, it was different. Blood wasn't that difficult to acquire if one knew where to look, and his years of involvement in the pharmaceutical industry left him with more than enough connections to get a steady supply of that which he needed to remain strong. Hunting was unnecessary.

But traveling was another story. Blood could not be brought along on a trip, being highly perishable, and there was nothing more disgusting than spoiled blood. It tasted like death and decay.

Traveling made it necessary to find temporary resources.

Solomon silently entered their room holding a small black briefcase. He carefully put on a pair of latex gloves as he knelt by the bed and opened the briefcase. He slowly pulled back the covers and with the lightest touch possible, positioned the sleeping man's arm so it was lying straight beside him, elbow down.

Never from children, or the sick or the elderly. He almost never took from women either, he was raised at a time when women were generally thought to be physically fragile. He knew that this out-dated notion had little basis in fact, but nevertheless, he still felt that to prey upon women was bad form.

Solomon pulled an individually wrapped anti-septic wipe from his coat and warmed it between his hands for a moment before swiping it across the pit of the man's elbow.

He knew that some of his brothers, mainly Carl and Amshel, got off on feeding directly from the neck of a live victim, but Solomon had always found it somewhat distasteful. He gave up the practice not long after his transformation, and developed his own method of acquiring sustenance.

He licked his lips in concentration as he slid the needle into the man's arm, hitting the vein dead on. The blood immediately began flowing through the tube and into the collection bag as the man continued to sleep peacefully.

He always siphoned exactly four hundred milliliters, less than a blood bank would take. This would be more than enough to keep Solomon in top form for the next few days, assuming he did not get seriously injured. For a disciplined vampire, a little blood went a long way. However, like humans, some chiropterans, Diva for example, seemed prone to the vampiric equivalent of binge eating, and at the other end of the spectrum, there was Haji, whose feeding behavior was quite clearly comparable to that of a human anorexic.

He removed the needle, placed a small square of gauze on the tiny wound and folded the man's arm back, pinching the gauze in the pit of his elbow. In the morning, that man would have no idea it ever even happened.

Solomon pulled out a small plastic box labeled 'biohazard: sharps" and placed the soiled needle inside before slipping out of the room.

He retired to the roof of the hotel with his quarry, having emptied the contents of the bag into a wineglass. After only a sip, he felt his mind become clearer and the subtle fatigue faded from his body.

He placed the glass on the pink stucco railing at the edge of the tarnished-copper green roof and soon became too lost in thought to enjoy the view that he had gone up there to take in. To his left, a view of the Pacific Ocean, which seemed as infinite as the night sky it mirrored, and to his right, the glistening lights of Kalakaua Avenue. Consumed by his thoughts, he gazed off into the night, until he heard someone approaching him from behind.

"Well, well, just look at you. Standing on the rooftop, staring off into space and pining for your beloved Saya. You're turning into Haji."

Half of Solomon's face tightened into a slight smile. "Hello Nathan."

"Boy do you ever owe me," Nathan said smugly.

Solomon turned. "What are you talking about?"

"So nice of you to give Haji head start with her, very sportsmen like. If you ask me, Saya has always been fair game, it's not your fault that Haji wouldn't get off his ass and slip her the tongue."

Solomon ignored the comment.

"Nathan, what did you want to tell me?"

"I have explained the bats and the bees to Saya."

"Did you? What did she say when you told her?"

"Not much, by the time I had explained everything, she was speechlessly pissed at Haji."

"Please tell me you didn't tell her about -"

"And what if I did? I'm surprised you didn't tell her yourself in order to weaken the competition."

Solomon looked at his shoes. "I admit, the thought did occur to me." His eyes returned to Nathan, with a subtle note of anger in his expression. "But I would never stoop to doing something that childish and manipulative."

"My lord! I think he's judging me!" Nathan said to his invisible audience, then addressed Solomon once more. "This coming from you! Your past actions suggest that you believe killing Haji to be acceptable, but according to what you just said, tattling on him is not. You always did have an _interesting_ view of morality."

"Nathan, will you please just get to the point."

"No, I don't think I will. So Solomon, when was it that you were made a Chevalier?"

"1917. What does that have to do with -"

"So then you were around for the World War II years."

"Brother, please just drop it," said Solomon, with a tinge of annoyance in his tranquil tone.

"Back when Amshel had you all paling around with the Nazis. I wonder what your moral compass told you then."

"I was not directly involved with that aspect of his plans," Solomon's tone was becoming increasingly defensive.

"Did you do anything to stop them?"

"I was just following orders," he retorted.

"Spoken like a true old-school Nazi. They must have just _loved_ you, blondie."

"Go to hell Nathan! I was never a goddamn Nazi!" he shouted, having actually lost his composure. "I was the one that killed Martin and I'll have you know that -" Solomon suddenly stopped and was silent for a moment before he began to shake his head, chuckling softly in spite of himself. "I can't believe I actually fell for it. You're just baiting me."

"Mmm hmm, I know I took it a little far, but it's so hard to get a rise out of you, and this time I actually got you to curse a little! Good for me!" Nathan said with large smile of self-satisfaction. "I still can't seem to get you to _really_ swear though."

"I gave up swearing after I got out of the army."  
"Oooo! Is that a challenge?"

"Certainly not!" Solomon laughed again. "I never thought I would say it, but I guess there is one way that I actually miss James, when he was around, all your malicious teasing went to him."

"Ah, how I loved to torture him, and he just had to put up with it ever since that time I kicked that sweet ass of his, come to think of it, that was the only sweet thing about him," said Nathan. "But seriously Solomon, don't bother trying to guilt me over telling Saya about _Project 973, _or anything else for that matter. I'll do what I have to do to ensure our kind doesn't just slip into oblivion. I already went through a lot of trouble cultivating Diva's liking for Kai so she would make him her Chevalier and then he could sire Saya's children, lord knows that wasn't that far fetched, but that didn't work out now did it? Now the only chance for a new pair of Queens lies with you and Saya and I'll gladly be a manipulative bitch to make that happen."

"God help anyone who gets in the way of your schemes," Solomon groaned.

"Damn straight," Nathan said in his demonic voice.

There was a brief pause before Nathan resumed the conversation in his ordinary human tone.

"Anyway, the real reason I came here was to inform you that Saya has cordially invited you to be the father of her daughters."

Solomon was speechless, gaping at Nathan with his mouth slightly ajar.

"And I hope she asks to get it done sooner rather than later, or poor Haji will just waste away and die if he has to wait much longer to finally get his _katana_ in her _saya_."

"Brother, what a crass thing to say!" Solomon chided.

"Oh c'mon, everybody's thinking it!" exclaimed Nathan. "Oh, and Solomon, as your _elder-brother_, I feel I must give you some advice on women: generally they prefer to find themselves naked in a man's bed of their _own_ accord."

Solomon instantly became defensive. "I told you, that was only so I could treat her injuries."

"Yeah right, I'm sure that was the only reason," Nathan said as he rolled his eyes. "If she hadn't gone into hibernation, I would have said you'd already done the job, but I suppose you love her to much to take advantage of her. Either way, the whole naked-kidnapping thing is creepy. Don't screw up this time. Just screw. Oh, and by the way, Dave is most likely in the process of becoming a Chevalier at this very moment," Nathan said as he turned to leave.

Solomon furrowed his brows in confusion. "But Ruka would never do that unless he was mortally wounded."

"Looked mortal to me."

"What happened?"

"I stabbed him," Nathan replied with a casual shrug.

"Nathan! How could you do such a terrible thing!" Solomon exclaimed in shock.

"Sometimes you have to light a fire to get someone off their ass. I would have done young Joel too, but I don't think things between him and Aka have progressed enough."

"Nathan, they will never forgive you!"

"Forgiveness is for people who can die, so it doesn't interest me. Like I said before, I will do what I have to do to make sure our kind survives." Nathan looked down at a non-existent watch. "Oh! Look at the time, I have a flight to catch. My plans are taking me to Bordeaux next. In case I don't see you, have a nice eternity, Solomon. Tah!"

Nathan smirked as he took his leave.

"On to the main event," he quietly narrated.


	10. The Suitor's Stalemate

It was just after dawn, so early that the hospital still had the eerie stillness of night shift. The harsh fluorescent lights glared down on the weary comrades.

Kai sat reading a magazine. The elder David was on his cell phone at the end of the hall, pacing desperately as he talked to his wife. Aka and Ruka had followed Dave into the operating room. Haji sat with his back straight against the wall, his cello case at his feet and Saya leaning against his side, resting her head on his shoulder as she dozed. He stared absentmindedly out the large wall-sized window opposite them, watching the birds on the lawn in the courtyard outside, where several cattle egrets stood, silent and still while mynas and red-crested cardinals hopped about their feet. Haji, as a man who spent so much of his long life waiting quietly, had learned how to take interest in trivialities such as birds.

Kai looked up from his magazine when he noticed the sound of some very brisk footsteps echoing from the other end of the hall.

"Huh, what's he doing here?"

Haji turned his head, causing his ponytail to brush against Saya's nose, tickling her awake. Her eyes fluttered open and she quickly stood when she caught sight of Solomon. Haji stood at her side, barely fighting off the temptation to stand in between Saya and Solomon.

"Nathan told me that he killed Dave, I came as soon as I could."

"Well," said Kai, "fortunately, Davids aren't so easy to kill, and he was lucky enough to get stabbed while two med students were standing next to him. He's in real bad shape, he'll probably need some prosthetic organs, but the doctors say there's a good chance that he'll pull through."

"So he's alive and the girls didn't have to make him a Chevalier?"

"Ruka tried, but Dave refused."

"I am glad to hear that she did not force him, I have witnessed the negative effects of becoming a Chevalier against one's will," Solomon said, with genuine regret in his tone. "How are the girls taking it?"

"Pretty hard, especially Ruka. Both of them have been friends with Dave for their whole lives, but Ruka has wanted to marry him since she was five."

"I know that he means a great deal to them. I have no doubt that Dave was brought up to hate chiropterans, but his treatment of the girls did not seem to change when he found out what they really were, and I respect him for that. I would have done everything in my power to prevent this if I had known."

"Well, I guess it's good you're here, I bet the girls'll be glad to see you, they need as much emotional support as they can get right now. I'm sure they'll be happy to know that one of their _Ojisan_ isn't a traitorous bastard. I'll go tell them you're here." Kai walked through the double doors that separated the ward from the waiting room.

Solomon turned to Saya. "I also wanted to apologize for my brother's meddling in your personal life. I knew nothing of it prior to this morning."

Saya blushed.

"However," Solomon continued with a small polite smile. "If it really is what you want, I can think of no greater honor than to be the fa -" Solomon stopped, sensing Saya's discomfort with the subject when her head sunk down toward her shoulders and she looked toward the floor.

Naturally, Haji was seeing red, and it wasn't because he was looking at Saya's face.

The three people stood there, Haji glaring menacingly at Solomon, Solomon gazing longingly at Saya and Saya desperately wishing that she could be anywhere but where she was at the moment.

As Saya stood between the two men that loved her, she recalled a somewhat confrontational conversation with Mao, shortly before the incident at the MET.

"_Look Otonashi, three guys are madly in love with you, two of them want to kill each other over you and one of them is probably going to get himself killed over you, but you act like it's not even happening! Are you blind or do you just not care?"_

"_I do care, it's just -"_

"_Then do something! I mean, ignoring them might work out fine for you, but what about them? Kai is all weird and obsessed over you, and I'm afraid that if it goes on to long, he'll stop talking altogether, grow a pony tail and start playing cello! Even if you don't have that sort of feelings for any of them, you should at least put them out of their misery and tell them so! I don't know about that blonde stalker-man, but both Kai and Haji are nice guys, when most girls have a hard time choosing between two guys, its because one is an asshole and one is an idiot! If you care, then do something, will you! It doesn't even matter what, just do something!"_

"_Mao, I do care, I just – I just don't have time. I don't think you could understand."_

"_You're right! I can't!"_

The awkward silence persisted until the double doors flew open, both slamming against the wall as Kai burst into the room.

"They're gone!" Kai shouted, as he held out a small piece of paper.

"Who?"

Kai glanced down at the note in his hand. "The girls! They've gone after Nathan, they want to fight him because of what he did to Dave."

"Do you think they'll be okay? Can they beat him?"

Solomon answered first. "No, I do not think they can."

"You think that namby-pamby excuse for a Chevalier can beat both of them?" said Kai with a brief, snide laugh. "I mean, he did ruff Ruka up earlier, but she was unarmed and irrational, but against both the girls _and_ their swords, that mincing pansy doesn't have a chance."

"People are not always what they seem and the same goes for our kind," said Solomon. "Nathan simply dislikes fighting, but he is capable of inflicting tremendous damage."

"I find that hard to believe," Kai muttered.

"Shortly after he took on the role of Diva's Chevalier," Solomon continued. "I bore witness to a confrontation between him and James. Nathan beat him effortlessly with out even changing form, and could have easily killed him. The girls are strong, but they are no match for Nathan's experience."

"James was the toughest Chevalier I ever fought," whispered Saya. "But I don't think Nathan would ever hurt the girls."

"I guess I wouldn't be too sure about that," said Kai. "We never thought he would hurt Dave either, and he didn't hesitate to smack Ruka around when she attacked him."

"Yes," added Solomon. "It is fairly clear that whatever he's up to, he's willing to be ruthless."

"Then we have to find them before they find Nathan, they could get hurt."

"But we have no idea where they went," groaned Kai.

Solomon stepped forward. "Just before he disappeared, Nathan said he was going to Bordeaux."

"The zoo? Why would he want to go there?" Saya murmured.

"I do not know, but I believe that would be a good place to start, if we want to prevent the girls from fighting him," said Solomon.

"Haji and I will go after them," Saya said as she pulled on Haji's sleeve.

"Cool," said Kai as he whipped out his cell phone. "The shield has a private plane on standby for us, I'll tell 'em your coming."

Saya glanced at Haji. "Let's go." She took a step toward the door, but was stopped when Solomon gently seized her wrist. She turned to face him, finding him down on one knee.

Solomon lips hovered an inch over her hand and he looked up at her as he spoke. "Many years ago, I proudly swore my self to you as your Chevalier and that is an oath I intend to keep. Please allow me to accompany you on this mission, so I may serve and protect you, as is the duty of any Chevalier."

Solomon smiled as he kissed her hand, his lips lingering there as he stared up at her intensely, his eyes locked on hers. Saya recalled what Nathan had said, about how Solomon wasn't as pretty as he used to be, but as she looked down at him, she thought to herself, though there was a large scar on the side of his face, and there was a subtle difference in his complexion, over all, it was still the same face she had stared at, at the ball in Lycee.

When his lips finally parted with her hand, he glanced down at her hand, and the ring now on her finger. He felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him.

"So you two are -"

"Yes," Haji replied somewhat irritably, annoyed by the needlessly prolonged hand-kiss.

Solomon managed to swallow the disappointment caused by this new setback, and regained his usual, temperate tone. "Congratulations, to you both."

"Thank you," Haji and Saya said simultaneously, Haji's saying it with subtle pride that came close to gloating, Saya saying it in the same tone ordinarily used when apologizing.

Solomon rose to his feet and stood before Saya.

She briefly glanced at Haji before returning her eyes to her self-anointed Chevalier. "Solomon, you are welcome to come with us. I am sure you can help, since it seems that you have a good relationship with both Nathan and the girls."

"A least it will be better than having him lurking in the shadows wherever you go," Haji muttered, almost inaudibly.

* * *

Okay, I know I made it sound like Dave was dead, but I figure, hey this is thirty years in the future, there have probably been advancements in emergency medical care, so they resuscitated him.


	11. The Suitor's Armistice

Saya's body suddenly lurched forward and the blanket covering her to her shoulders slid off into her lap as the aircraft's front wheel hit the tarmac. Her head rocked back and fourth in successively smaller increments until it finally came to a stop, settling against the head rest once more, her slumber apparently undisturbed during the landing. Years of sleeping in carriages, trains and in the back of trucks had made her able to sleep through almost anything.

The pilot leaned to the side so as to poke her head through the cockpit door of the small plane.

"Well, we're in Chicago. It'll take about a half-hour for the fuel cells to recharge, and then it'll be non-stop to Bordeaux. If y'all want to go have a breather, then this would be a good time."

"Thank you," Solomon said politely as he enviously watched Haji pull the blanket back up over Saya, tucking it cozily around her neck.

The stoic Chevalier then approached the door, stopping and looking over his shoulder just as he was about to pass through.

"Saya will be hungry when she wakes, I am going to get something for her to eat. I will be back very shortly," with a brief glance toward Solomon, Haji communicated the things that were left unspoken. His eyebrows were raised ever so slightly, as if to implore Solomon to guard the sleeping queen that was so precious to both of them, but Haji's narrowed eyes and subtly threatening expression clearly communicated that violence was inevitable if he tried anything foolish.

As soon as Haji had disappeared from view, Solomon stood from his seat, donned a pair of black gloves and grabbed his black, hook-handled umbrella. Air travel had become second nature to him during the years of almost weekly business trips when he was the CEO of a multinational corporation, he could sit on a plane for a dozen hours at a time without becoming uncomfortable. This time, however, he did feel the need to get some fresh air during the stop over. The tension between him and his traveling companions created an atmosphere that was almost suffocating. He stepped out the door onto the top of the stair, and inhaled the fresh afternoon breeze, closing his eyes as the wind caused his hair to dance about his face, holding the sturdy umbrella tightly, using it as a shield against the sun. After having his fill of the fresh air, he walked back into the plane, retracting his umbrella and placing it by the door.

For the first time since he rescued her in Honolulu, Solomon was alone with Saya, and he was quite aware of it. Many possibilities fluttered around in his mind, ranging form the cautious and chaste to the reckless and most decidedly unchaste. Human or not, a man in love will have certain thoughts.

Solomon stood beside her, and with as much stealth as possible, he pinched a lock of hair that had fallen over her face and gently moved it to the side. His hand was so close to her skin, he could feel the heat of her aura even through his glove, and so he carefully removed it, before returning his hand to its former place, hovering by her cheek to bask in her warmth. He narrowly avoided laughing at himself when he recalled a line of Shakespeare that somehow seemed relevant to the moment, _Oh that I was a glove upon that hand, That I might touch that cheek._

She cooed softly as she turned her head, Solomon tensed, thinking he had woken her, but her eyes remained closed as she simply nestled her face against his palm and cooed again as she relaxed beside it. Having seen that she would not be easily woken, he bent down and lightly pressed his lips to her right cheek, her left cheek still resting against his hand.

He caught the sound of someone walking up the stairs to the door of the aircraft. Solomon straightened his posture, removed his hand and took a step back.

Haji entered, now carrying a clear plastic bag, containing a large sandwich and a few other snacks for his voracious queen. He glared at Solomon, irritated but not surprised to find him standing beside her. He placed the food next to Saya's seat, he moved a few rows back and set his cello down at his feet.

He uncased the instrument and began to play, taking advantage of the large space between the rows of the private jet, and the fact that the plane was currently stationary, thus no turbulence would disturb him.

Solomon approached, and sat down near Haji, in the same row, but with the aisle between them. He closed his eyes as he genuinely enjoyed the music.

"You really are quite good," said Solomon, "the twins call you 'Yo-yo' behind your back, you know."

Haji was silent for several seconds before the song ended.

"That is a compliment."  
Solomon shrugged. "Personally, I like your style better."

"Thank you," Haji said tonelessly.

"Just my opinion."

The uncharacteristically civil conversation ended.

"Haji, can I ask you a question?"

"You may ask any question you like, but I may choose not to answer it."

"Why do you hate me so much?"

"Solomon, I have always thought you to be intolerably self absorbed, but you have never struck me as a stupid man, therefore I do not think it is necessary for me to explain my reasons for disliking you."

Solomon nodded slightly. "So you are implying that you simply hate me because I am in love with Saya?"

Haji was silent, making a clear statement as to the accuracy of Solomon's assertion. Haji prepared to draw his bow across the strings once more.

Solomon spoke as the first note resonated. "But I do not think it is that simple."

Haji stopped playing, and listened out of idle curiosity.

"During my years helping to care for the twins," Solomon continued, "it became quite clear to me that Kai Miyagusuku also had romantic feelings toward Saya at one time. I have no doubt that you were aware of this, and yet I have never sensed any serious discord between the two of you, or at very least he has not incurred your ire on the same level I have. Why is it that you tolerated his attempts to take your place at her side, but I get the feeling that you are infuriated every time I look at her?"

"I did resent him getting so close to her, but I decided that if Saya reciprocated his feelings, I would relinquish any amorous intentions toward her because he had proven himself to be worthy of her, and seemed to have the ability to make her happy. Kai showed a great deal of devotion to her, on many occasions, he risked his life not only to protect her, but to help her accomplish her goal."

"Surely you must see that I have done those things as well," said Solomon, his tone still as polite as ever, "though there is one large difference between he and I. He was already a member of her family, I betrayed my family and allies for Saya's sake. Doesn't that mean something?"

"If anything, it simply proves that you are not to be trusted," Haji said flatly.

Solomon laughed softly.

"Once a traitor, always a traitor, is that it?"

"The fact that you changed sides shows that your loyalties are negotiable."

Solomon took offense to the statement, his voice actually raised slightly. "You make it sound as if I did it for some kind of personal gain. I sacrificed all the wealth and power of my position and not only did I abandon Diva, but I actually took up arms against her, my queen by blood. I gave up everything for Saya."

"I do not believe you gave up anything for Saya," Haji said, his voice having taken on a slight growl, a tone he had not used since confronting Solomon after he had abducted Saya thirty years ago. "I believe that none of the things you have done have been out of the desire to make her happy, but rather out of your desire to make yourself happy, to accomplish your own selfish goal of making her your lover. I admit that your help has proven invaluable at several points in time, and I thank you for protecting her, but I still believe that your actions and _sacrifices_ have not been out of devotion to her, but have simply been part of a price you were willing to pay in order to claim her as your possession."

Solomon's hands discretely formed into fists, but he managed to resist the temptation to rise from his seat. He was silent for several seconds as he calmed himself, at the same time, considering what Haji had said. He finally spoke, his voice sedate as ever.

"You're a shrewd man, Haji, and at one point in time, there might have been some truth to that assertion, but that was a long time ago, I have had a good deal of time to rethink my life since then," said Solomon, his mind traveling back to the time he had spent chained up and on the brink of death in Nathan's basement. The days had felt like decades, and as he felt the life slowly draining out of him, there was nothing he could do except hold a mirror up to his own soul, and reexamine his feelings and motivations. By the time Nathan had released him, he had decided that he would become Saya's Chevalier regardless of her rejecting his advances, that he would fight for her even if she would never be his bride, and that would be enough.

"What are you trying to accomplish with this conversation?" Haji suddenly asked, the subtle anger still in his voice. "Do you believe you're going to talk me into giving her to you?"

Solomon laughed softly. "I would be a fool indeed if I thought that was possible. Haji, I am simply making an attempt at creating some kind of understanding between us. In the past, combat has not been able to resolve our differences, I thought I would give words a try."

"That is one point I agree with you on - violence between us has accomplished nothing, and has only brought Saya pain."

Solomon sighed. "I have a feeling that we will never see eye to eye, so perhaps the best option is a suspension of hostilities."

"I agree."

"A truce then?"

"Yes," said Haji, "however, you should know that I have waited for over a century and a half to win her hand, and I believe she is happy." Haji's voice suddenly took on a menacing tone, "But rest assured, I will -" Haji paused, but then continued on, his tone still somewhat minacious "- Be very grateful if you did not interfere." He diplomatically forced himself to mutter in lieu of a threat.

"I love her far to much to stand in the way of her happiness, regardless of my personal wishes."

"As do I."

"Then we are in agreement."

"Yes, I believe so."

Haji picked up his bow once more, but Solomon began to speak before he could strike the strings.

"I am almost afraid to ask, but I am curious as to your thoughts on Nathan's -" he paused, "suggestion."

Haji began to play, giving a clear indication that he did not want to discuss that particular subject.

Solomon simply sat and listened, enjoyed the music as before.

"Haji, do you mind me listening to you play?"

Haji neither spoke, nor looked away from his instrument.

Meanwhile, Saya sat wide awake in her seat a few rows away, her two Chevaliers having unwittingly given her plenty more to think about.

* * *

This was a tricky chapter to write… first of all it has Haji actually talking a good deal, second of all it shows Haji and Solomon both getting a little pissed off but not actually fighting, which is a bit ooc for both.

I added the part about Saya eavesdropping at the last minute, thought it might add an interesting twist.


	12. Descent Through the Darkness

Saya walked briskly the wide sidewalk just out side the airport and stopped at the curb, her two Chevaliers standing on either side of her, Haji's arm extended upwards, in an attempt to hail a cab.

As they stood waiting, they seemed to attract an untold number of inquisitive gawks from the passers by. Fortunately, all three of them were used to being stared at.

Saya had always been stared at, as a young girl, Joel's associates were always very curious about her, and she attracted stares when she left the zoo, as it was considered to be extremely inappropriate for a young unmarried lady to travel alone with a man who was not her father or brother. She also got disapproving gawks whenever she played cello in public, back then, it was considered obscene for a woman to play that particular instrument, since it rested between the legs. In the early twentieth century, she attracted stares because she wore men's clothing and her hair short. Now days, it seemed that it was the company she kept that attracted the attention. A casually dressed young girl who seemed to be in her mid-teens, with two sharply dressed men, presumably in their mid twenties, constantly standing in her shadow.

Haji had always attracted some attention. He always assumed that this was because of his unique style of dress, and his coffin shaped cello case. In truth, it was also due to his exotic good looks as well as the otherworldly air he had about him that just seemed to scream that he was from a different age, or possibly a different plane of existence.

The closest Haji and Saya ever came to fitting in was during the early sixties, when people just assumed that they were beatniks.

Solomon too was used to being stared at. He had once been considered an extraordinarily attractive man, and as much as it irritated him, he was aware of it. Things had changed since his injury, but it wasn't really due to his physical appearance, such unique hairstyles were not uncommon by that time. Though people's eyes did often seem to fix on his facial scar, the main thing that made him stick out was his attire. He still wore his now signature black suits, but the ensemble had been joined by a pair of black silk gloves and an old fashioned fedora hat, both for the purpose of shielding him from the sun. He always carried a black umbrella as well, and would unfurl it whenever he had to walk out in the outside during the day, creating an odd sight – a man with an umbrella, regardless of the weather.

Haji finally succeeded in getting them a cab, and the three of them climbed into the back seat, Saya once again in the middle.

"You should put on your seatbelt," Haji suggested.

Saya ignored the request. What was the worst that could happen? It's not like something as trivial as a car crash could kill her.

Solomon turned toward her. "Haji is right, you should be wearing a seatbelt."

Saya opened her mouth to protest being ganged up upon, but was silenced when the two men looked at her simultaneously, their expressions stern yet concerned – almost parental.

She reached under her rear and dug for the seatbelt.

* * *

The breeze carried the familiar sweet, earthy smell of her childhood home.

It was an hour after dusk and unseasonably chilly, and they had already searched the area where the mansion had once stood, and found no one. There was only one other logical place he might be – the old castle ruins, perhaps reminiscing about Diva.

The Queen and her knights stood at the foot of the stairs, all three of them glanced upwards towards the keep, Diva's old prison.

Saya climbed the first step. "You two should go search the rest of the ruins, I'll check out the tower." She climbed a few more steps, only to find that both of them were still standing at her heels.

She glared at them for their disobedience. "You don't think I can handle this by my self? I'm not that fragile!" Her voice was raised, expressing more anger toward herself than toward her companions, and the subtle waiver in her tone made it clear that her emotions were getting the best of her.

"It isn't that we think you cant handle the memories," Solomon said, not entirely truthfully. "We simply don't know what Nathan is up to, and we don't want to risk having you face him alone." To his surprise, Haji nodded in agreement.

"Fine." Saya climbed a few stairs, but felt tears beginning to form, as her mind flashed back to the previous times she had climbed those steps. Frustrated with her emotions, she abruptly crouched down and with a sudden burst of energy, sent her self flying up toward the tower's zenith, soon followed by her faithful Chevaliers.

As if she might be able to outrun the memories, she virtually sprinted toward the end of the vine encrusted stone hallway, until she reached the cursed cell that still haunted her dreams, sometimes even when she was awake.

She had not been in that room since the day that she had made Riku a Chevalier.

Her gaze slowly moved across the cell. The large breach in the wall allowed the moonlight to glare into the room, shining through the rusted and crooked prison bars and creating a warped checker like pattern on the floor. The roses were in the midst of their full summer flush and the dim light made half of the blooms appear an almost violet shade of cobalt, while the other half were a deep sanguine red that bordered on black. The scent of old garden damask hung heavy in the air.

Saya began to tremble as guilt-ridden images began to assault her mind. She heard at least one of her companions step forward, no doubt to comfort her.

But she spoke before any hand reached her shoulder. "No one's here. Let's go."

The mantra had begun in her mind, the one she had developed the last time she was awake.

She unintentionally whispered it out loud. "I can't think about that now. I have things I must do. People I must protect. I can't think about that now."

It was a desperate prayer that allowed her to trudge through the mire of her past in order to continue toward her goal. It was as if the memories were quicksand, she would be fine as long as she stepped lightly and kept moving, but the moment she stopped, she would begin to sink down into the abyss. In some way, it was that feeling that had once prevented her from having second thoughts on ending her life after her crusade had finished.

She repeated that phrase over and over in her mind during her descent back towards the ground.

By the time her feet hit the floor at the base of the tower, she had managed to ram the memories into a far corner of her mind.

She took a few steps out side of the tower, and let out a startled yelp as she felt the ball of her foot teeter on the edge of an unexpected precipice. Her two companions nearly ran into each other when they jumped forward to her rescue, each grabbing one arm and pulling her back.

She examined the large, deep, hollow shaft in the stone pavement. "Where did that big hole come from?" she sighed exasperatedly, as the adrenaline began to subside.

"I believe it was you," Solomon said with a slight smile. "It was the second time we met, do you not remember?"

Saya crouched down at the edge of the chasm. "Yes, you're right. Diva pushed me out of the tower, and I fell through the floor here."

"Come to think of it, I can think of a reason why Nathan might go down there."

"Why?"

"I once heard that Amshel kept a lab of his own directly beneath Diva's tower. Nathan could have gone there. I cannot imagine why he would, but it is a definite possibility."

"Then we should check it out," said Saya, as she leapt into the chasm, once again, followed closely by her two Chevaliers.

She hit the bottom with a splash, and felt that she was ankle deep in water. The three comrades stood silent and still as their chiropteran eyes began to adjust to what would have been pitch darkness to a human. These passages were clearly once the grand hallways of a majestic castle, but years of neglect and decay had made them appear more like catacombs.

Solomon raised his nose in the air, trying to smell something beyond the filth of the stagnant water. It was then that he caught the scent of old formaldehyde and fresh blood. A chill ran up his spine. It, combined with the damp, moldy smell of the underground ruins, was almost identical to the scent he had taken in along with his last breath as a human.

"This way." He led his cohorts down through the south passage.

After walking several yards, Saya stopped suddenly, and her two Chevaliers turned to her. She stood still for several seconds, peering in an open doorway. The room must have had ground level windows, because a considerable amount of moonlight filled the room, glinting off of several suits of armor, and a varied arsenal of medieval weaponry.

She had been there before. It was in the armory that Solomon had confronted her. She could still see the impish grin on her sister's face as Solomon reluctantly declared that he had no choice but to kill her to protect Diva. Another image flashed in her mind, one she had not thought of in a long time, but nevertheless, it had been burned into her memory. It was the image of Solomon in a blood stained white suit, standing a few paces away on the green outside, watching as Diva prepared to kill her, his expression as serene as ever, albeit a bit more solemn.

To Solomon, her reason for stopping there was no mystery. She had been there before, he remembered that day well. The day he went to the zoo to convert her. It was in the armory that he had reluctantly crossed swords with her.

Even at the time, she was aware that every one of his moves was entirely defensive.

It wasn't long after that when Diva nearly killed her, while Solomon looked on, believing himself to be powerless to stop her at the time.

He had actually prayed. He had stopped believing in God after witnessing the atrocities of World War I, but in that moment, he actually prayed. It was all he felt he could do and whether by divine will or not, she was indeed saved by Haji at the last moment.

He had been captivated by Saya ever since he had met her in Lycee, but he had convinced himself that it was simply a boyish infatuation, that however intense, it was only an attraction of the senses. But it was after seeing her at the zoo that day, he truly couldn't get her out of his head.

At the ball, all that had passed between them was a dance and some small talk, but at the zoo, it was different. In an attempt at fostering peace, he had teased out some of her deepest feelings, desires and inner conflicts, and because of that, he had gotten to know her better in one afternoon, than most people could get to know someone in several years.

She was a chiropteran, but thought and behaved like a human. She was completely devoted to her adopted family, but hell bent on destroying her blood relatives. Those dichotomies had fascinated him, but more than anything he was completely beguiled by the traits she revealed that day. He saw that she was strong, resolute, brave and determined, but at the same time, he could see that she was extremely fragile, that underneath that will of iron was a beautiful spirit that was on the brink of shattering. He wasn't sure why, but somehow, it was her vulnerability that had most captivated him. He saw her frailty and from then on he had wanted to be her source of strength. He had seen her sadness and from then on, wanted to make her smile just as he did in Lycee.

He had realized that it wasn't pity that he was feeling. It was empathy, perhaps the most human of all emotions.

It was then that the word 'love' began to bounce around in his head.

His mind had wandered back to all of these things, and by the time he returned to the present, Saya had already begun walking again.

Solomon took his place in front of his companions, following the increasingly strong and oddly menacing scent, until they arrived at a large, thick and obviously very old oak door that hung slightly ajar, a faint, flickering light shining just behind it. Lying on the floor in front of it was a large, oddly more modern lock, possibly from the twenties or thirties. The lock had been cleanly cut in half, and the now broken cobwebs that had once guarded the edges of the doorframe clearly indicated that that this door had not been opened until very recently.

The rusted hinges could no longer support the weight of the heavy solid oak, so the bottom of the door ground against the stone floor as he pushed it open.


	13. The Mezzo soprano

This chapter contains images of blood and such. Fairly warned be ye, says I.

* * *

A human would have said that the room smelled like dust and mildew, but to the three non-humans, the scent of fresh blood overpowered everything.

The room was illuminated with a single, old fashioned oil lamp that burned on a large steel table beside a labyrinth of small, glass tubing and a wide array of beakers and test tubes, some of them still with some sort of liquid inside. One wall of the room was completely covered in shelving, and the shelves were packed with assorted clear jars, each with some sort of preserved specimen in them, most of them unidentifiable palled remnants of some poor creature's internal organs. In one corner of the room stood a pair of skeletons, assembled and hanging from a metal hook, one appeared to be an average human, the other seemed vaguely human, though shorter, stockier and with a somewhat oddly shaped skull. The floor was littered with rat droppings and browned sheets of paper, who's writing had faded away long ago.

More noticeable was a strange trail of smeared bloody footprints that seemed to snake aimlessly around the room.

Saya's hand covered her mouth as she regarded the scene.

"We must be too late."

Solomon descended to his knees and lightly ran his fingers along one of the bloody smears.

"It's Nathan's blood."

"Nathan's?" Saya stammered, "they must have fought him and – maybe they beat him after all…"

As Saya jumped to conclusions, Solomon took the initiative to follow the trail of smeared bloody footprints to the other side of the large, steel table.

In his life, he had seen so many strange, bloody scenes, that they no longer seemed to affect him, but even he was caught off guard when he reached the origin of the bloody footprints.

"Saya, I think you should see this."

Both Saya and Haji appeared at his side and beheld the sight before them.

It was some sort of large, rectangular, clear glass box on the floor, at least three feet deep, and twelve feet long, the lid lying shattered beside it. The glass case was filled at least three inches deep with blood, the dim light making the thick, opaque liquid look almost black. Some of it had been smeared against the sides, giving the walls of the box the appearance of red stained glass.

Saya was struck dumb by the sight for several seconds. "I -" she stammered. "I don't understand. What happened here?"

"It's almost like a glass coffin."

"It seems too big to be a coffin," said Haji.

The three comrades stood staring at the strange scene.

Saya's head suddenly turned, and her blood ran cold when her ears caught a familiar sound. "Do you hear that?"

The two men quietly scanned the air for the sound she might be referring to. To the chevaliers, it was just barely audible, but Saya could hear it clear as day.

"Singing," said Haji.

"It's Diva's song," added Solomon.

"It must be one of the girls," Saya said hopefully.

"The girls were never taught Diva's song," said Solomon, "for fear that if they sang it, it could awaken the latent chiropteran in any of the millions of people that have consumed delta 67 laced Cinque Fleches products."

"Who else could it be?" Haji asked flatly.

"Either way, we need to check it out." Saya took a few steps toward the shaft that led out of the basement.

Saya quickly reached the bottom of the shaft that they had used to enter the tunnels, and with an enormous burst of energy, sent her self flying up through it, soon followed by her two Chevaliers.

She landed in a runner's pose. "It's coming from over there."

All three of them took off, virtually flying through the ruins, across an arched bridge until they reached the remains of the old fountain, where the crystal clear streams of water had been replaced by feral vines long ago. Though it was night, the whole courtyard was well illuminated by the nearly full moon and the bright stars of the French countryside, bathing everything in an eerie, slightly blue light.

Saya stopped, and her companions quickly followed suit. She slowly stepped forward toward the fountain.

The singing was getting louder and louder.

She knew she was close.

_It sounds like Diva. _She thought. _But it's kind of different, she's singing it at least a whole octave lower, and it sounds less angry, but still kind of sad. Somehow, it's actually almost - soothing._

She slowly walked around the perimeter of the vine-covered double helix until she finally caught sight of the singing's source, standing in the lunar shadow of the fountain.

The penumbra created by the fountain would have made her impossible to see with human eyes, but Saya was able to partially make her out in the extremely dim light. The singing girl ambled aimlessly, taking tiny, shuffling steps.

Saya gasped deeply and the singing stopped as the girl turned to towards them, revealing a murky, undetailed view of her face.

The moonlight glinted off of her bright, blue eyes.

_Diva? _

The girl's head slowly bobbed and turned, as her eyes seemed to wander all around, not settling on any one subject.

Even though Saya could barely make out her face, somehow she could still see the girl's expression. She had never seen anyone look so completely forlorn.

Her gaze finally meandered over the three people standing before her. Her eyes fixed on Saya, and she slowly began to approach her.

The girl's dejected countenance quickly faded to a child-like smile.

Saya's hand shot out to the side toward Haji.

"S-sword." She said in a stuttering whisper. Haji immediately complied.

Saya gripped the weapon tightly, her shaking hands causing the scabbard to rattle against the blade.

The girl continued to smile at Saya, her feet dragging as she drew nearer.

Saya unsheathed an inch of the blade, her thumb poised over it's edge.

The girl cocked her head to the side like an inquisitive kitten as Saya's eyes began to glow red. The mezzo-soprano still smiled and walked toward her.

Finally she stepped out of the shadow of the fountain, the light of the nearly full moon brightly illuminating her, making it possible to see her with comparative clarity.

Her face was that of a stranger.

She did bear a striking resemblance to Diva, only with some differences, many too subtle to ordinarily notice, such as her slightly fuller lips, and her slightly smaller, flatter nose. The only things that clearly distinguished her from Diva was her height, at least eight inches taller than Saya or Diva, and her deeper complexion, a rich, rosy shade of caramel.

The moonlight also revealed that she was completely naked, though her thick, bone-straight, ankle length black hair seemed to cover much of her body. Other than the unruly black locks, there was only one other thing that covered her.

A layer of dried blood coated her entire body, her hair seemed to have been soaked in it, making it look oddly stiff as it cascaded over her form. It seemed that a few teardrops had carved their way through the dark garnet swirls on her face at one point.

Saya could see that this girl was clearly not her dead, tragically insane sister. She resheathed the one-inch of her sword, but continued to grip it tightly. Her eyes continued to glow.

"Who are you?" Saya asked, still trembling slightly.

"Who are you?" The girl responded, her voice soft and somewhat deeper than most young women.

"I'm Saya. What is your name?"

"I'm Saya. What is your name?" the girl replied.

"Do you understand?" asked Saya.

"Do you understand?" was the girls answer.

"Parlez vous Frances? Comment vous appelez-vous?"

"Parlez vous Frances? Comment vous appelez-vous?" said the girl, copying Saya's flawless accent.

Saya furrowed her brows slightly. "Why does she keep repeating everything I say?" she wondered allowed. Naturally, the girl parroted her once more.

"Saya," said Haji, "you sometimes do same thing, when you have just woken up."

"As did Diva," Solomon added.

Suddenly, the girl flew at Saya. The two Chevaliers immediately _drew _their weapons, Haji's demonic hand burst forth from its bandages, and Solomon's hand became a blade. Saya gasped and tensed, for a split second believing that this would be how her life ended, only to realize that the girl had thrown her arms around her and was embracing her affectionately.

Saya now felt both afraid and awkward. Even for westerners, a hug from a stranger, let alone a naked stranger, is considered generally inappropriate.

But fear soon began to turn to pity. Though Saya had no idea who the girl was, something in her gut told her that she was a Queen as well.

Saya had some vague memories of being in her exact position – alone, confused, exposed and completely vulnerable.

Acting mostly out of instinct, Saya returned the embrace. The glow from her eyes faded.

The two men simply watched the odd scene unfold, but both were still ready to cut down the mysterious girl at half a moment's notice.

* * *

They had put in a call to headquarters and explained the situation to the best of their abilities. A car had been sent for them, and was to bring them to the Goldschmidt's current estate, since it was only a few hours drive from Bordeaux.

Naturally, it would take a while for the car to find them in such a remote location, and in the middle of the night.

In the meantime, Saya led the strange girl to the nearby river, and used a wetted a handkerchief to wipe off as much of the blood as possible. The girl seemed to enjoy the attention and just stood there until Saya had sponged her off to the point that she at least she no longer looked like an image from a horror film. She led the girl away from the water, dressed her in the long, white cotton nightgown that had been tucked in a small bit of spare space in Haji's cello case. Generally, Saya only traveled with one outfit, the one on her back, but she also generally liked to have a set of nightclothes, and of course, she couldn't just live with only one pair of underwear. Since it was usually their only piece of luggage, what little extra clothes Saya possessed were kept in a spare compartment in his case. Dressing the girl proved especially difficult, the creature seemed to have no idea how to put on clothes, so Saya struggled to pull the nightgown over the girls head, a challenge due to her height, and then had the task of putting all the proper limbs in their proper holes.

The two Chevaliers stood several yards away, with their backs prudently turned.

Solomon turned to Haji. "Its clear that she's not either one of the twins, and most certainly not Diva. Who do you suppose she is?"

"I do not know, but I have been thinking..."

Solomon nodded his head, as if to ask him to continue.

Haji hesitated for several seconds before speaking again.

"According to Joel's diary, Saya and Diva were removed from their mother's mummified remains. It is never mentioned what happened to the remains after the dissection was completed, though I do not imagine that they were simply discarded, they were most likely kept for the sake of future research, and it is logical that they might be stored in Amshel's lab. This combined with Nathan's claim to be the Chevalier of Saya's mother, the fact that a Chevalier's blood is known to have special healing properties for their Queen, and the scene we discovered in the lab, makes it seem possible that -"

"I see what you're saying," Solomon said quietly. "Nathan must have used his blood to resurrect her."

* * *

Surprise?


	14. Snow White

Several of the most respected members of the Red Shield descended on the Goldschmidt's estate in order to see this new Queen for themselves. Even Dr. Julia had managed to pry herself away from her son's bedside in order to participate in this new breakthrough.

Kai had managed to finally make contact with the twins, the news of Dave's improving condition and the discovery of a new Queen seemed to be enough to convince them to abandon their vendetta against Nathan, at least temporarily.

Joel VI sat at the head of the long conference table.

"First things first- she needs a real name, we can't keep calling her 'the subject,' it is unacceptably demeaning."

"Well, the original mummy was called SAYA," suggested his son.

"We can't call her Saya, it would be too confusing, we already have a Saya," Kai groaned.

"So what do we call her?" Added young Joel, the redundancy of his question earning him a pair of rolled eyes from Aka.

Everyone in the room seemed slightly shocked that Haji was the one that broke the silence.

"Saya, what about the idea you had the other day, from the fairytale."

Saya became suddenly self-conscious when everyone turned their attention to her.

"Um, nah, it's silly."

"C'mon Saya!" urged Kai.

"Um," She fought off her embarrassment and crawled out on her limb. "This whole thing kind of reminded me of a story that I read when I was little. In the story, the princess died and was placed in a glass coffin, but came back to life, just like her," Saya said. "Because of that, I was thinking that maybe we could call her Shirayuki."

Saya braced herself for the ridicule she believed to be eminent.

"Sounds good to me," said Kai. "We could call her Yuki for short, that's a nice, normal, non-attention-grabbing name."

"Then it's settled, the subject will tentatively be called Shirayuki," declared Joel VI. "Now, Dr. Julia, if you would present your findings."

Dr. Julia stepped forward. Though she was now in her late fifties, she still possessed the pleasant face she had decades ago, though her hair had faded to gray, and her figure had filled out considerably.

"We know only one thing for sure. The DNA analysis has proven beyond any doubt that she is the biological mother of Saya and Diva."

A chorus of gasps did not erupt, only because that tidbit of information had already been circulating for several hours.

"However, because this case is completely unprecedented in modern scientific history, everything else is pure theory.

"We know from Joel's diary that the original specimen was not crystallized, but mummified – the skin and dried flesh were relatively well preserved. Circumstantial evidence suggests that Nathan was indeed her Chevalier and used his blood to revive her. Apparently a large amount of his blood was needed in order to perform this procedure, in which we can guess that he applied his blood to the mummy and the mummy absorbed it, just as the two cocoons did in the diary.

"Because she has already absorbed the blood of her Chevalier, it stands to reason that her memories could return at any time, or they may never return, we have no way of knowing.

"Once again, because this case is completely unprecedented, we can only guess as to how she will progress. So far her behavior and vital signs appear to be very similar to those of Saya when she has just awoken from hibernation, so we can hypothesize that she will continue to follow this pattern. Like Saya in her first week after awakening, she appears to be acquiring language at an astonishing rate, her vocabulary is now estimated at nearly a thousand words in less than two days. She also still appears to be somewhat disoriented and easily distracted, but assuming that she continues to follow Saya's pattern, this receptive-disoriented phase will gradually end during the next few weeks, at which time, her behavior will begin to normalize."

"Yeah," said Kai, "that's all very interesting Julia, but what are we going to do with her?"

"That is why we are all at this meeting," said Joel VI. "Dr. Julia, you are the expert, how would you suggest we proceed?"

"Well, since her behavior has been consistent with Saya's awakening's, perhaps it would be wise to put her in a similar situation to what was done with Saya."

"You mean you want me to do all the work," Kai muttered in a tone of mock-exasperation.

"You have dealt with an awakening chiropteran Queen twice before, and that peaceful environment seems ideal for a queen who's - future behavior cannot be predicted."

"Yeah, yeah, you don't have to ask me twice. One chiropteran Queen as my foster daughter, comin' right up."

Saya looked unsure of the decision. "I'm not sure I like the idea of lying to her."

"Saya, we know that you must have strong feelings about this, but we have to bear in mind that her awakening could probably be considered unnatural, so we can't rule out the possibility of her -" Julia paused as she searched for an appropriate euphemism, "-loosing control."

Saya gave a sidelong glance at Haji.

"However," Julia continued, "we know from experience with you that this may be less likely to happen if she believes herself to be human, so she will have a firm foundation to on which to base her behavior, and its even more important that she spends some time as a member of a supportive human family."

Saya gave a sidelong glance at Kai.

"Then I want to help take care of her. I know how it feels to have no past and no identity, and I know how it feels to get it all back at once."

"Cool. You can move back in with us then," Kai said enthusiastically. "Mao already started using your room as a place to put her spare random crap, but we can move it."

Lewis scooted forward in his chair. "But what about the current operation? We still need a squad in Honolulu to prevent the military from shipping out more corpse corps, but that may be harder with Saya in Okinawa, and I assume that Haji will go with her as well. Can the twins do it alone?"

Aka and Ruka looked at each other.

"Won't be easy, but I guess so," said Aka.

"I think we can do it, but we'll miss having Saya around, not just as our Obachan, but she does help out a lot in battle," added Ruka.

"Hey!" Exclaimed Aka. "What about you Solomon-Ojisan, maybe you can help us!"

"Yeah!" Added Ruka. "Please Ojisan! We know you have mad skills!"

Solomon turned to Saya. "Give me the order, Saya."

She took a second or two to consider. "I guess if Aka and Ruka think you could help, then you'd better go with them."

Solomon managed to hide his disappointment. As much as he enjoyed the twin's company, he did not want to be so far from Saya.

"Then there is the issue of Nathan, he could still be a threat," said the elder Joel.

"Well," said Solomon, "from what I know, even a Chevalier could not survive loosing as much blood as we found at the scene."

"Yeah, but we never found a body! It seems pretty obvious that he's still out there," Kai said darkly. "Even if he lost a lot of blood, I mean, how many times have we thought a Chevalier must have died only to have them show up again later."

"That is a good point," Solomon conceded out of politeness. "But you must understand that as long as the blood of his Queen flows through his veins, a Chevalier will always regenerate. The only proven way to kill a Chevalier is to stop that blood from flowing, and the only way to do that is to either crystallize it or remove it, thus preventing regeneration. Loosing the amount of blood we found at the ruins should be fatal."

"How do you know how much blood a Chevalier can loose before they die?" Kai asked skeptically.

"It is a theory I once tested many years ago, in Germany."

"If you're so sure he's dead, then what happened to his body?"

"I am not saying that I am sure he is dead. I realize that it does not sound like Nathan to simply crawl off somewhere and die, but at the same time, I would think that if he went through the trouble of resurrecting her, if he survived, he would also want to fulfill his duty as her Chevalier and look after her, not leave her wandering around in the French countryside. There is evidence to support both the theory that he is alive and that he is not. I have known Nathan for a long time, but I admit that his true thoughts have always eluded me, but there is one thing I have learned for sure… With Nathan, it's never the simple answer."

"I still don't like the idea that he's still out there, after what he did to Dave," Kai muttered.

"Well," Ruka added casually, "if he is alive, then he best keep hiding if he wants to stay that way."

A chill shot up Saya's spine. She knew that in terms of behavior, the twins bore no resemblance to their mother, but Ruka's blasé tone while making a death threat made her sound exactly like Diva.

The attention of everyone in the room suddenly turned toward the door.

The ancient new queen carelessly sauntered in to the room.

She had been cleaned up, her hair had been cut short, though not as short as Saya's had once been and she still wore Saya's white nightgown, since she had resisted wearing anything else. She slowly ambled around the room, making eye contact with on one as her fingers scraped lightly against the ornate scrollwork on the wall, its texture seeming to fascinate her.

Dr. Julia pondered what a scientifically groundbreaking case she was.

Lewis and the two Joels wondered if she would become a threat.

The twins found the strange and infantile behavior of their biological grandmother somewhat amusing, and looked forward to getting to know her better.

Haji and Kai both wondered if she would be more like Saya, or more like Diva.

Solomon too wondered which of her daughters she would _take after_, observing that she did have a bit more of a physical resemblance to Diva, though her new haircut gave an added similarity to Saya, somehow. He couldn't help but recall what his former co-chevalier had observed about her.

_Nathan once told me that his first queen made Helen of Troy look like a hag, but I don't quite see it. She is somewhat pretty in some way, I suppose, but really she's nothing to Saya, or even Diva for that matter. _He thought. _Then again, who could be more beautiful to a man that the woman he loves – perhaps Nathan… That would explain why he was willing to give his life to resurrect her... I suppose he might have been just hitting on James just to irritate him, or perhaps… his preferences leaned in more than one direction… never the simple answer. _

Poor Saya wasn't entirely sure how to feel about the strange young woman.

_My mother._

_In my whole life, I've never had a mother. I have had a father twice before, but never a mother. Miss Eloise used to look after me when I was little, and then there was my governess, Miss Beaumont, but neither of them was really quite like a mother to me. _

_I wonder what she will be to me._

Kai stood from his seat and turned toward the newly named Shirayuki. "Hey!"

She continued to gaze out the window.

"Hey! Hey!" he shouted, clapping his hands several times to get her attention.

She finally looked at him.

Kai pointed at her. "Your name is Yuki," he said, each syllable pronounced with excessive volume and care, as if she was mostly deaf.

She smiled and silently pointed back at him. He took a few steps toward her and placed his hand on her head. "Your name is Yuki," he said as he removed his hand.

She placed her on hand on her own head. "Your name is Yuki."

"I am Kai. You are Yuki.'"

She smiled. "I am Yuki."

Kai patted her head. "Very good."

She immediately began to prance about the room, singing "I am Yuki!" over and over, using an unknown, yet hauntingly beautiful melody.

Aka turned to Dr. Julia. "Don't tell me it's just that simple!"

Dr. Julia shrugged. "She is very prone to suggestion in this stage. You could probably convince her that she's a lawn mower if you wanted to."

Ruka giggled. "Oooo! Sounds like fun!"

Kai turned and gave her a fatherly glare. "Don't even think about it."

"You never let us have any fun," the twins whined in unison.

Meanwhile, Saya still hadn't finished her musing.

_How am I supposed to feel about her?_

_I don't feel like she's my mother._

_But how would I know what having a mother feels like? _

* * *

End of Act 1: Where Black Met Gold

* * *

Preview of Act 2: The Snow Queen

Saya's life looks deceptively simple when she goes back to playing the role of an ordinary Okinawan high schooler, but she still has a great deal on her mind – her 'big sister' who is really her amnesiac mother, her cello teacher who is really her fiancée, and her absent self anointed chevalier, who is to father her children. At least she gets some time off from fighting monsters…but if there is anything the past has taught her, it's that peace and quiet never lasts long.

So yeah, I have decided to divide the story up into three "acts," mainly just because I feel like it.

Thank you reviewers! You are awesome!


	15. Act II: The Snow Queen

This takes place a few months after the previous chapter.

_

* * *

_

The Snow Queen

Crunch crunch crunch crunch.

She could feel a pair of ankle length braids flapping against her back as she ran.

She could smell the pines as they flew by.

She could feel the cold air making her nose numb.

She could feel the ermine fur lining of her coat brushing against her chin.

Crunch crunch.

She stopped for a moment.

…. crunch crunch crunch crunch.

The sound of someone running through the snow continued, albeit fainter.

She was being chased.

She began to run again, this time so fast that her feet barely had enough time to sink into the feathery white powder.

Suddenly, the crunching noise seemed to change.

It sounded more like knocking.

"Saya! Yuki! Get up!"

Yuki rolled over and glanced at the clock before sitting up and glaring at the fourteen-year-old boy standing in the doorway.

"Go away George, it's barely six."

"Yeah, but the bus schedule changed, remember? If we take the 7:45, we'll be late to class so we have to take the 6:45."

Saya and Yuki both groaned from their respective beds.

Kai joined his son in the doorway. "You guys _could_ sleep for another fifteen minutes, but you'll miss breakfast."

"We're up."

As soon as the door closed, the two girls hoped out of bed and began to dress.

The two girls shared a room, even though they didn't need to. Early on, when Yuki hadn't yet shed her infantile mannerisms, she had refused to sleep in her own room. Her childish behavior seemed to have tapered off during the past few months, but her dependence on Saya's guidance and support had only decreased a bit. This might have been stifling to most people, but Saya was used to having clingy friends.

"Saya, does it snow in Okinawa?" Yuki asked as she pulled her blouse over her head.

"I don't think it gets cold enough to snow here."

Yuki gave a thoughtful hum.

Saya knew why she was asking. "Did you have that dream again?"

"Yeah," Yuki paused. "It feels so familiar, being in the snow. Hey, maybe we lived somewhere snowy before the accident."

Technically, Saya's answer wasn't a lie, but it still felt like one.

"I don't know."

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The sky seemed to be threatening rain, and misting lightly every once and a while, but Saya was familiar enough with the climate to know it wouldn't truly rain on them.

The athletic field lay in between the bus stop and the school, so they cut across it, as was their routine.

Yuki suddenly stopped dead in her tracks and turned toward a rarely used corner of the field.

"Again?" Saya grumbled.

Yuki approached the chainlink fence and pressed her face against it like a child out side of a toyshop.

He had been there every morning for the last few weeks. Yuki always watched him as they passed, but since the bus schedule now forced them to kill a half an hour before school, Yuki insisted on spending it watching him.

She referred to him as _Kyudo Boy_.

He was a young man, though he seemed just slightly too old to be one of their classmates. He was dressed in a gray hakama and black kimono with one arm out of its sleeve, holding an enormous traditional Yumi in his hand.

To be out there alone, first thing in the morning, in full traditional regalia – he must have been at least a bit of an eccentric.

He had neatly combed ear-length black hair with a few subtle dark brown highlights. From what they could see from that distance, a relatively handsome face, somewhat tan and slightly and obscured slightly by a pair of sunglasses and a slight hint of a beard. Yuki had decided that he must have a nice body, judging by his exposed shoulder.

Because of her past conversation with Nathan, Saya knew that Yuki's interest in the young archer was probably more than just a girlish crush on a stranger. Saya was familiar with the powerful sway of déjà vu.

Yuki regarded him with wide eyed fascination as he extended his left arm and bow out in front of him and raised the bow up, drawing the string back over his head and then rolling his shoulders and lowering it into a shooting position.

The young man fired into a foam target about sixty feet away, hitting just beside a small cluster of other arrows that had already lodged in it.

"Yuki, you know, you're probably making him uncomfortable by standing here and watching him all the time."

Saya often had to explain this sort of thing to Yuki.

It seemed as if he would be out of earshot, but apparently he had heard them. "It's alright, I don't mind," he said as he turned to Yuki. "You seem very interested in this, would you like to try?"

Yuki flashed Saya an excited grin and scampered off to the_ Kyudo Boy_.

"We wouldn't want to impose…" Saya's voice trailed off as she resigned herself to just stand by and let Yuki do as she pleased.

Within seconds, Yuki was holding the bow.

"Now stand with your feet apart –"

Yuki cut him off. "It's alright. I've already been watching you," she said as she copied his technique and fired into the foam target.

"Very good!" The young man said as she handed the bow back to him. "You use a pinch draw, not exactly traditional, but you definitely must have shot before."

Yuki was silent for a moment. "I don't know."

"You don't?"

"Well, I don't remember anything before a few months ago. Last year, we and our mom were in a car crash. Our mom was killed, we both ended up with some mild brain damage that caused us to have amnesia, and I ended up in a coma up until three months ago."

Saya's face wrinkled in embarrassment. Yuki had learned how to function well in society on a basic level, but there were still a lot of social situations that she didn't know how to handle properly. In this case, she didn't seem to realize that it isn't normal to bring up such a personal story with a total stranger.

Yuki did seem to notice the slightly puzzled look on his face and suddenly seemed to grasp her error.

"I guess you think that's pretty weird, huh."

"Not in a bad way," he stated casually. "I mean, I thought that type of amnesia only happened in movies, its interesting to meet someone whose experienced it." He flashed a friendly smile.

Saya raised an eyebrow.

Yuki smiled delightedly at him for several seconds before speaking.

"Can I try again, I want to see if I can hit the same place twice."

He handed the bow back to her.

Thhhhhhpk.

Sure enough, her second shot hit within a half inch of the first one.

Thhhhhhpk. And so did the third.

Thhhhhhpk. And so did the fourth.

And so on.

The _Kyudo Boy_ was speechless.

This was in no way shocking to Saya. Yuki didn't seem to have regained any of her memories, but Saya knew from experience that some skills seemed to be independent of memory. Only a few months earlier, before Saya had regained her own past, she had been stunned to discover that she was pretty good at the cello, even though she could not remember ever having played it before. Yuki's having rediscovered her archery skills was not at all surprising.

The body often remembers things that the mind does not.

The _Kyudo Boy_ finally found his voice. "You're grouping is even better than mine, and I have been doing this for years. I think you should definitely sign up for class."

"Really?"

"Absolutely, I'm the teacher's assistant for the Tuesday Thursday class, I would be happy to introduce you."

Yuki's face lit up. "That would be so cool!" She beamed as she softly clapped her hands.

The young man smiled right back. "I don't think I caught your name."

"Otonashi Shirayuki, but everyone calls me Yuki."

"Pleased to meet you, my name is Freddie Gardener."

"Freddie Gardener? But you look Asian," Yuki said, sounding a little confused.

Saya winced. Political correctness also seemed to be out of Yuki's grasp at present.

The young man scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Um, well my dad was American, but I guess I look more like my mom."

"Yuki, don't you think we should let him get back to practicing."

"I guess so," said Yuki as she began to hand the bow back to the young man, but then suddenly thrust it toward Saya. "Hey Saya, you should try it."

"Yuki, I really don't think -"

"C'mon, it's super easy! Try it! I bet you can do it too!"

The young man shrugged and smiled politely.

Saya reluctantly took the bow and did her best to copy her sister. She raised the bow up over her shoulders as Yuki had done, but accidentally let the arrow fly before bringing the bow back down.

The arrow landed somewhere in the canopy of a shower tree at the other end of the field.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Saya said, her face red with embarrassment. "Let me get that -"

"No, I got it, it was my idea," Yuki said as she took off running toward the tree.

Saya and the young man watched as Yuki reached the tree and began to climb.

Yuki spotted the arrow resting in a clump of dangling pink flowers on one of the branches. She crawled out onto the bough beneath and reached up for her quarry, only to loose her balance. Her hands flew instinctively out in front of her just before she hit the ground.

Her sister and new acquaintance sprinted to her aid.

"Yuki! Are you alright?" Saya called.

"Ouuuwww…" Yuki groaned as she pushed her self up.

It was then that she noticed her left arm was clearly broken, the tip of her ulna was visible as it had punctured through her skin.

Yuki let out a shriek as she caught sight of her injury.

"Oh shit!" The young man gasped.

Saya knew she had to act fast before their new acquaintance saw Yuki's blood do its work. She turned to the young man with a forced smile.

"Um, it was nice meeting you Freddie-san, but I think you really should leave now," she said, trying to sound polite, but really just sounding panicked.

He furrowed his brows. "She's hurt, I wont just leave!"

"Please, you really have to go now!" Saya franticly implored.

"But I -" The young man stopped mid sentence when he noticed a tall, longhaired man in a suit had appeared behind him.

"Saya, is this man bothering you?" Haji asked sternly.

Yuki looked over to him and laughed half-heartedly. "Wow, Haji-san, what are you doing here? You really picked a hell of a time to run in to us."

Yuki was still under the impression that Haji was Saya's cello teacher.

Saya realized that the _kyudo boy_ wouldn't leave without helping her injured sister. "Um, you should go get help. Please Freddie-san, go to the gym and get some help!"

"I've got a cell phone right here, I could call an ambulance!"

"No!"

"But she's hurt really bad, you can see the bone and look at all the blood!"

"She doesn't need an ambulance!"

Yuki was getting quite confused. "What do you mean I don't need an ambulance! Look at me!"

Saya let out a deep, exasperated groan as she slapped her own forehead.

"Look at yourself," Saya sighed.

Yuki looked down at the wound and screamed.

Strange, white hair-like fibers had grown out of the tip of the bone and had stretched across the gap between the two halves of her ulna, and were knitting the bone back together while she watched in horror.

"Cooooool," whispered the _kyudo boy_.

The color drained out of Yuki's face.

"W-w-what's wrong with me," she stuttered quietly.

Saya knelt beside her and placed her hand comfortingly on Yuki's head.

"Nothing's wrong with you." Saya pulled out the dagger that Haji had asked her to keep as a side arm. She made a small cut in her hand, and held it up to her distraught _sister. _

Yuki watched as the scratch faded.

Saya placed her other hand on Yuki's head, and stroked her hair comfortingly. "See, we're the same."

Yuki looked up at Saya with owl-like eyes. "B-but th-this isn't – this isn't n- normal."

"It is totally normal." Saya let out a sigh. "It's just not -" she paused, "-human."

"N-not human." Yuki echoed.

"Coooool," The young man whispered again.

Yuki watched as the last trace of her injury disappeared. "W-what are we then?"

"We are chiropterans. You and I are a special kind of chiropteran called 'Queens.' We have hearts and souls and minds just like humans, it's just that our blood is special. One of the things it does is it makes us heal really quickly."

Yuki back toward Saya. "I think I'd rather be human"

Saya sighed. "I know." She stood and extended her hand down to Yuki. "C'mon, we'll talk more at home. I think cutting our morning classes is okay considering the circumstances."

Saya helped her _sister _to her feet.

"Saya, what about him?" Haji said, gesturing to the awestruck young man.

"Hey, don't worry, your secret's safe with me," said the young man, his tone strikingly sincere.

Haji turned to him. "Listen to me," he said with no small amount of menace in his voice. "Telling anyone about this would be very dangerous, not just for them, but for you as well."

"Is it like some government conspiracy or something? Hell, I'm on your side then," he said quickly before turning his attention back to Yuki. "So, you'll come to class right?"

Yuki stared at him in shock. "You still want me to come?"

"Hell yeah."

"You mean, you don't think I'm a freak?"

"Not in a bad way."

Yuki smiled at him, deeply moved by the stranger's acceptance.

Saya and Haji exchanged glances, unsure of what to make of this odd young man.

"C'mon, lets get you home," Saya said softly as she began to lead her _sister_ away.

"See ya tomorrow night," the _kyudo boy_ called after them.

Yuki turned around and nodded with a broad smile as the two girls began walking back toward home. Yuki looked down at her now healed arm.

"Saya, is this why Kai won't let me get my ears pierced?"

"Yeah."

* * *

Author's note:

Ever since I first started working on Yuki's character, I have been aware that I am totally _Cruzin' for a Suezin. _However, after much consideration, I have decided not to worry about that, for two reasons…

1. Saya scores high on the litmus test herself

2. It's my story, nanny nanny boo boo! He he he!

Yes, I am weird.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, then disregard that message.

Of course, I would love to know what you all think!


	16. Kiss from a Queen, Part 1

Saya and Haji sat in the backyard beneath an enormous banyan tree, a lovely improvised duet issuing forth from their respective instruments.

It figured that they would have good musical chemistry.

Haji played in a quick, somewhat low, florid motif while Saya added a soaring, simple counter melody. The drone of the cicadas, coincidentally humming on the tonic of the key in which they played, seemed to give the song an East Indian feel.

They didn't know that Kai and Mao were actually enjoying the music from the kitchen, as they prepared dinner.

The improvisational symphony seemed to end of it's own accord, as all good jam sessions do.

The last note resonated throughout the yard.

Saya turned to him and smiled. "How long was that?"

He turned around and leaned to look past the tree, at the clock in the kitchen window.

"At least a half hour. Would you like to take a break?"

"Yeah, my arm's actually a little tired," she said as they both set down their instruments.

There was a brief silence before Haji spoke.

"I have been thinking, I know that Yuki has not yet recovered her lost memories, nor has she been told everything, but I do get the impression that our relationship has been explained to her. Because of that, I was hoping that perhaps we could see each other more often, not just at lessons."

Saya smiled. "I'd like that."

There was another brief silence.

"Perhaps I could take you to a movie."

Saya giggled.

Haji furrowed his brows slightly, while giving a just barely noticeable smile. "You find that suggestion amusing?"

The giggling gradually tapered off. "I don't know why, but the idea of us doing the same stuff that normal couples do – it's kind of funny for some reason. Nice – but funny."

"I was under the impression that you like to feel normal," he stated bluntly.

She was silent for a moment. If anyone else had said that to her, she would have been offended.

"These past few months of not being able to see you very often have made me kind of realize something. I like to feel normal, but the truth is - for me – normal is being with you."

He smiled broadly.

"What are you smiling at?" she asked cheerfully, still not used to seeing that expression on his face. Slight grins and smirks were common enough, but it was still fairly uncommon for him to outright smile.

"I am smiling because I am glad that you feel the same way I do," he paused. "Every now and then, someone asks me where my home is. My answer always depends on the situation, but inwardly, I always think the same thing. My true home is with you – wherever you are."

She smiled back at him.

"That is not to say," Haji continued, "that I do not desire to have a literal home with you," he lowered his gaze slightly "- as I hope we will soon."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry about making you wait so long." She sighed and turned away. "You're so wonderful, I don't deserve you. Why are you willing to put up with so much just to be with _me_?" she whispered.

For the first time in many years, Haji spoke without thinking. He always spoke to Saya from his heart, but his mind always acted both as editor and interpreter, but in that moment, for whatever reason, the words just flew out.

"Vous etes ma raison d'être," he placed his hand on her cheek. "Et je vous aime."

It wasn't the first time he had told her that he loved her and she was his reason for being.

She took notice of the fact that he still addressed her formally when speaking French, even though she had asked him not to many times during their years at the zoo. She recalled one particular argument.

"_Am I still a 'vous' to you? We have known each other for almost ten years, and Joel adopted you so now I am practically your stepsister, but still it's 'vous, vous, vous!' Why can't you address me like a friend?"_

_Saya didn't know that his reasons for addressing her formally were not just out of prudishness. Somehow, in his mind, addressing her familiarly would be a step in the direction of becoming part of the unethical reproductive experiment that he had been 'purchased' for. He had to admit, lately (not coincidentally around the time he hit puberty) he had started to see some good in the notion of becoming Saya's "friend at night," but on top of his fundamental stubbornness and reluctance to participate in a venture that was so morally questionable, he respected himself, and more importantly, Saya, far too much to do such a thing._

"_As long as I am a gentlemen, then 'vous ette une vous."_

_She giggled lightheartedly. "When did you become a gentlemen? I thought you were a Gypsy!"_

_His mouth dropped open for a moment, before closing in a shocked frown as he stood and began to walk away, his steps soft and calm, but his air thoroughly offended. Somehow Haji managed to be indignant and dignified at the same time, as he silently stood with his back to her._

_Saya was confused, and wondered if he was taking offense because she had jokingly implied that he wasn't a gentleman. Having grown up within the sheltered walls of the zoo, Saya had little idea of the stigma that came with the term "Gypsy" and the discrimination that came with the label in France at that time. She hadn't meant to offend him, she had only meant to convince him that he wasn't obligated to utilize such formality when speaking to her. _

_But somehow, after only a minute of indignant silence, he seemed to understand that. _

_He closed his eyes as he sighed deeply. "Saya, you shouldn't use a word unless you know exactly what it means. None of the people I grew up with ever referred to themselves as 'Gypsies,' it was only used by others in the context of implying that we were inferior," he calmly explained._

_She gasped at her own ignorance. It was one of the first times in her life that she had been truly furious with herself._

_Tears of shame began welling in her eyes._

"_I'm sorry," she began to weep. "I didn't know, I didn't mean to -"_

"_Come here," he sighed._

_Saya didn't know that she had triggered a memory of the rainy afternoon when he had told her that he was not at the zoo by choice, and she had hugged him and offered to make everything all right. She didn't know what a powerful memory that was for him, that in a way, he had been in love with her ever since._

_She also didn't know that he was just at that moment realizing it._

_Regardless of the fact that it was an imprudent gesture between non-relatives (and for reasons he couldn't quite put his finger on, he was fairly sure he would never be able to think of Saya as his sister), he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. She cried against him for a few seconds._

"_I'm sorry," she repeated, "I really don't think of you as inferior, that's why I want you to address me the same way I address you."_

_She felt his lip tighten slightly against her temple. _

"_Haji, do you think that maybe someday, I can be a 'tu' to you?"_

"_You really have no intention of dropping this do you?" he said, his voice as close to a groan as possible, considering it was Haji speaking. _

"_Nope," she said frankly._

"_Very well then. I promise, that someday, though I will not say when, but sometime before we die, I will call you 'tu.'"_

_She didn't know that it was then that he resolved to marry her someday, and that address would be saved for a time after that event._

_She rose to her toes and kissed him on the cheek, the pride from this small yet considerable victory over taking the shame she had felt only a minute earlier._

…

Saya reflected on that afternoon, long ago.

…

_Even when I said such a terrible thing, he still instantly understood that I didn't mean it._

_He always understands._

_Even when I was a snobby brat, even when I was frosty and distant, even when I made him promise to kill me, even when I cut off his arm…_

_He always had faith in me. _

_He has always seen the good in me, more than I saw in myself, and brought the best out of me because of it._

_I guess that's why I've always had faith in him, that he'll always be there._

_In 1963, near Tokyo, he disappeared after a particularly nasty battle._

_I thought he might be dead, but I had no choice but to keep fighting._

_I didn't like the person I became for those few weeks. _

_I was way beyond grouchy. I was downright mean, I lashed out at people for no reason other than to take my mind off my own pain for a moment._

_Eventually, he healed just enough to crawl out of the wreckage and when he finally found me, I felt as if I hadn't tasted oxygen in weeks, since the last time I saw him. _

_I could deal with him being gone for a million years, as long as I knew we would come back._

_The only reason that I didn't loose my mind after the incident at the MET was because I knew he'd come back, but somehow, it wasn't because I knew he would heal like he did before. It was because I knew he wouldn't leave me forever, he wouldn't do that to me._

_He knows that I need him._

_I need him._

She stared blankly for over a minute as she ruminated on these things, but when tears began to well in her eyes, he moved to hug her as he always did when she cried.

But with quickness just shy of inhuman, she threw her arms around him and captured his lips with hers.

Startled but no doubt pleased by the almost aggressive display of affection, Haji returned the kiss with considerable zeal, using his chiropteran hand to pull her so close that she was virtually sitting in his lap, his human hand cradling the back of her neck.

If either of them were capable of logical thought at that moment, they would have been extremely thankful for the enormous banyan tree that stood between them and the kitchen windows.

* * *

Kai gave the frying pan a calculated jerk to flip the vegetables.

Mao was washing some dishes.

The family cat, Tabi (named in a bilingual pun deriving from her sock-like white feet and the gray stripes covering the rest of her body) suddenly scurried away. She always did that when Saya or Yuki entered ther room.

"I finished my homework, let me take over with the dishes, it's my turn," said Yuki.

Mao stepped aside. "Cool, it's just about time for me to pick George up from practice."

"Hmm. There's no music coming from outside, they must be sucking face," Mao whispered to Yuki, not knowing that her joking assertion was actually correct.

Kai grimaced, wishing he hadn't overheard it.

A high pitched, but pleasant tone rang throughout the house.

"I'll get it," said Mao, noticing that everyone else was busy.

Yuki turned off the tap so as to better hear who was at the door.

Her eyes widened as she caught the words "is Yuki here?" in a somewhat familiar voice.

Mao apparently found the appearance of their guest interesting enough to delay her departure, and reentered the kitchen followed by Freddie Gardener.

He gave a slight yet polite bow. "Kohai, you left your yugake at practice," the young man said as he produced Yuki's archery glove.

"Oh! I was wondering where that was. Thank you!"

Mao raised an eyebrow. "You came all the way here to bring her glove? It's not like she needs it when she's not at practice."

Freddie scratched the back of his head uncomfortably. "I just – um…" he sputtered as he blushed slightly.

As naïve as she was, Yuki seemed to catch Mao's implication that he might have an _ulterior_ _motive_ in coming to see her.

Yuki blushed too.

* * *

Despite the certain degree of privacy given by the lattice-like entanglement of tree trunks, things between Saya and Haji quickly progressed to a point that was inappropriate for outdoor displays of affection.

She pried her lips away from his. "We should-" was all she managed to get out before he recaptured her lips. She pulled away again. "- sto - " Haji seemed to devour the missing phoneme as he delivered one last, untimely, almost excessively deep kiss.

He finally released her lips. "You are right." He sat for a moment, catching his breath, before he looked away bashfully and scrambled to put his cello in position between his legs.

Saya gave a devilish smile. "I thought you weren't going to hide anything from me anymore," she giggled as she picked up her bow and slowly dragged a block of rosin across the hairs.

Haji suddenly seized her by the waist and put his lips less than an inch from her ear. "When I finally make you my wife, I fully intend to make up for lost time," he whispered.

Saya shivered, only partially due to his breath on her ear.

As if to drive his point home, he pinched her earlobe between his lips, running his tongue along its edge, causing Saya to shudder violently. She immediately lost her grip on the rosin, and the small brick flew down, bouncing off the strings of her cello, making a surprisingly loud noise resonate throughout the yard.

The sudden dissident chord seemed to startle the cicadas, causing the droning to stop, and an strange silence to blanket the yard.

Haji leaned in for yet another kiss, and Saya leaned to meet him, but before their lips could touch, both their ears caught an odd rustling from over the neighbor's fence.

"It was probably just a bird," Saya said with a shrug.

But then they both caught a much stranger noise, a just barely audible burst of static, obviously from some sort of communication device, and then a much more alarming sound – the familiar sound of a blades being unsheathed.

They were surrounded.

"HAJI! SWORD!"

* * *

Did anybody catch the breif blood the last vampire crossover? What can I say, I refuse to accept that they are in different universes, so I have to make up ways to excuse the cannocal differences (such as the lack of Haji and Saya acting like a total bitch), lol.

Oh, and my French is rusty at best, so yeah...


	17. Kiss from a Queen, Part 2

RATING HAS CHANGED, (due to violence and implied themes) just to be on the safe side. I don't want to be accused of damaging someone's fragile mind without warning them first, lol.

* * *

"HAJI! SWORD!"

Mao had just pulled out of the driveway when the yelling echoed throughout the kitchen.

In an almost knee-jerk reaction, Kai hastily pulled his colt from his pants and ran out the back door.

"A gun?" Freddie whispered.

"You left the stove on!" Yuki shouted as she corrected Kai's error.

"Yuki, what's going on?"

"Actually, I don't know, but there's only one way to find out!" said Yuki as she walked out the backdoor and onto the deck.

Freddie stood in the kitchen for a moment before dashing after Yuki and standing beside her, watching the scene unfolding at the other end of the large yard, the view partially obstructed by the large banyan tree.

It had been invaded by at least a dozen men in black spandex masks and combat fatigues, all with curiously identical builds, and each carrying a large straight bladed sword, similar to a medieval claymore without a cross guard.

Freddie's jaw dropped down to his collarbone. "Woah -"

Yuki said nothing in response, but rather murmured to herself.

"So this is _the war._"

Her adoptive father was reloading his gun, having already emptied a clip into the masked invaders. As soon as he had finished, he began firing at the attackers again, hitting his targets with amazing accuracy, only unlike in movies she had seen, he was clearly not aiming for their heads or torsos, but rather the kneecaps. For an average gunmen, this would have been a very difficult target, but not for Kai – he had become a world-class marksmen over the past few decades. Shooting the knees was a trick he had learned from David – a shot to the head or chest would barely slow a chiropteran down, but if hit in the knees, they would be immobilized for around 15 to 30 seconds, enough time for Saya finish them off while they were mostly defenseless, something she was more than battle-hardened enough to do with out hesitation.

Her sister's 'cello teacher'/secret boyfriend's ever-present bandage had been discarded, exposing his hand's true, monstrous form, which he used to deadly effect, seeming to throw unfisted punches at his opponents, while using his other hand to swing his massive cello case at them.

But to Yuki, Saya was the most interesting, by far. She had never seen her _sister _in battle before, and though she was more than a little frightened by the violence she was witnessing, Yuki couldn't help but feel a strange, instinctual swell of pride as she watched Saya, who was, unknown to her, her biological daughter, wielding a katana with the skill of a super-heroin.

In under a minute, the majority of the attackers had been crystallized, while most of the others were on the ground, waiting to be finished off.

But before anyone could catch their breath, the second wave was sent in.

"Shit! How many of these bastards are there?!" Kai shouted.

As Saya battled with one corpse corps that must have been especially skilled (or lucky) due to it's still being alive after several seconds of fighting her one-on-one. But as she fought, a different corpse corps attacker hopped over the fence and charged her from behind.

Fortunately Haji caught sight of this and launched his cello case at it, hitting it in the chest and sending it flying several feet until it sailed through the kitchen window.

"Haji! Do you think you could hold off on that? This place's a rental!" Kai snidely shouted as he emptied another clip.

Just as Haji shot a serious glance at Kai, the aforementioned attacker flew out of the broken window towards Saya, swinging it's sword before even hitting the ground. Saya recognized the familiar sound of a sword slicing through the air towards her and whirled around, impaling the corpse corps on her own weapon, it's body sliding up the length of her blade and then resting limply on her shoulder as it began to crystallize, Saya's solid stance just barely preventing her from falling over.

Yuki seemed unnerved by this close call.

More than unnerved.

Yuki heard a strange ringing in her ears as her eyes began to glow.

Freddie noticed this. "Yuki – your eyes…"

"Saya's in danger," she said calmly as the last trace of conscious thought ceased and her body was completely taken over by instinct.

No amount of amnesia could stifle a mother's instinct to protect her child.

Yuki charged at the chiropteran that had attacked Saya.

* * *

But suddenly she was somewhere else.

It was as if she was watching a movie though her own eyes. She could hear her own thoughts as she watched, but had no control over her actions.

Crunch crunch crunch crunch.

_It's like the dream._

_Only different._

_It's night this time._

It was colder, she could tell that she wasn't dressed for the snow.

The tendrils of hair fluttering about her face and the absence of the braids against her back told her that her hair was in some sort of rapidly unraveling updo.

Crunch ……..crunch ………….crunch ……………crunch.

There was at least twenty feet between each stride.

She didn't sense that anyone was chasing her this time, but she was running as fast as she could. Somehow, she knew she was desperate to get away from something.

The pines flew by in a blur until she seemed to reach an open field.

The sky was an eerie shade of rust-orange.

The new fallen snow seemed to glow in the dark.

She slowed down a little, now running at an ordinary human pace.

Crunch crunch.

She stopped and looked down at an object in her hand.

A slightly curved dagger, it's blade made of shiny silver, its hilt made of intricately carved mammoth ivory.

She held the dagger in both hands and raised it up over her head.

_What am I doing?_

…

_Don't do it._

_Stop. _

_No._

* * *

The corpse corps seemed to sense a new threat and simultaneously turned towards Yuki, ignoring their other opponents for several seconds.

Three of the attackers immediately charged at her, and the others returned to battling with with Saya and Haji, while Kai shot at them.

Yuki's expression was uncharacteristically solemn and yet furious at the same time. Her arms flew out in front of her, her fingers tense and curved, and though they were in human form, the claw like shape of her rigid, curved fingers made them look more like talons.  
Her eyes glowed the color of blue flame as she slashed across the abdomen of one of the corpse corps, some of its innards falling to the ground just before the rest of it did. Another of the attackers swung it's weapon at her, and she easily avoided it just before slicing through the thing's neck, its blood spraying a speckled streak across her white blouse.

Her fighting style was completely different from Saya's. Saya's technique had come from being trained in multiple forms of classical fencing, combined with her super-human strength and speed.

Yuki was different. She was no graceful warrior out to save mankind. She was an enraged tigress protecting her last and only surviving cub.

A third wave hopped over the fence and all headed for the blue-eyed Queen.

Her foes having multiplied, her movements became more frantic, her furiously calm expression took on a note of desparation. There were so many of them, and it was clear that she was now being specifically targeted.

She madly slashed her talon like fingers at her attackers, panting and letting out a fierce growl with each breath.

Saya, Kai and Haji continued to fight the few corpse corps that seemed to have been relegated to keeping them busy, but all three of them noticed the change in Yuki's demenor.

All three of them knew from experience what was going on – Yuki was no longer in control.

The battle escalated until the movements of both Yuki and the corpse corps became imperceptible to the human onlookers, and appeared to simply to be a cloud of blue streaks.

Suddenly, the corpse corps seemed to freeze in their places as their heads simultaneously turned to the west.

The reason was hardly apparent, but the hasty retreat of the few surviving corpse corps made it clear that they had apparently been ordered to withdraw.

As the attackers made their hasty retreat and abandoned their positions surrounding Yuki, the deadly Queen became visible again.

She stood still, panting and growling as one hand instinctively covered a deep, but to her, superficial wound in her side.

Saya, Haji and Kai knew that she could be very dangerous in this state – wounded and clearly out of touch with reality.

Freddie appeared not to realize the danger and approached her from behind without hesitation.  
"Are you all right?" he asked with concern.

Yuki whirled around to face him, eyes still blazing.

His eyes widened, but that was the only reaction he managed to produce before she tackled him and sunk her fangs into his carotid artery.

He didn't struggle, fear and a sudden drop in blood pressure appeared to have caused him to faint.

At first, no one moved to stop her. She was wounded, and taking a little blood would do more good for her than harm to him.

But she kept drinking.

"Yuki!" Kai shouted. "Yuki! Stop! You'll kill him!"

She didn't respond.

Saya approached. "Yuki, you have to stop!"

She still didn't respond.

Saya placed her hand on her shoulder and grasped it tightly, ready to pull Yuki off him.

Yuki suddenly released her hold on the young man and rose to her feet.

The flame in her eyes seemed to have been quenched by a calm blue ocean.

The panting turned to hyperventilation as reality faded back into Yuki's consciousness.

Her eyes focused on her _sister. _"Saya?"

Her gaze slowly traveled around the yard, briefly taking in the carnage that surrounded her, until she finally noticed Freddie.

She stared down at him, her own blood soaked hands in the foreground of Freddie's limp form lying at her feet like a discarded piece of clothing, his face against the ground.

"Freddie-sempai!"

She dropped to her knees and rolled him over onto his back.

His skin was sunken and ghoulishly pale, his eyes fixed and dilated as he stared off into oblivion.

He had been completely sucked dry.

She her eyes fixed on the pair of puncture wounds on his neck for several seconds before one of her hands traveled up to her face and she touched a drip of blood there.

"No…" Yuki whispered as she buried her face in her hands.

"D-did I do this?"

No one had the heart to answer her.

She suddenly turned to Saya.

"Did I do this?!" she demanded.

Saya looked away, tacitly answering Yuki's question in doing so.

"No no no no no no no…"

Yuki collapsed, sobbing violently on the ground beside her dead friend and victim, her tears carving their way through the blood on her skin, just as they had the night she had been found in Bordeaux.

Saya turned to Kai. "Can't they resuscitate him, like with Dave?"

"It's too late. He's completely drained – already gone. I don't think anything can be done for him."

Yuki suddenly looked up. "Wait, Saya, what was it that you told me about if someone drinks our blood?"

A small collective gasp rose from the group.

Saya placed her hand on her shoulder. "Yuki, I don't know if -"

"It'll save his life right?"

"Yes, but -"

"Saya, I killed him. I don't think I can live with that," Yuki wept.

Kai turned to Haji. "Is it too late?"

"Probably not," he said solemnly.

Yuki sunk her teeth deep into her own wrist and sucked up a mouth full of blood.

Saya stepped forward. "Yuki, you really should think this through carefully -"

Without even a moment's hesitation, she lowered her lips down onto Freddie's.

Saya and Haji glanced at each other, wondering how she had known to do it that way.

The column of his throat contracted as she leaned back to her previous position, kneeling beside him.

Kai voice cracked as he spoke. "Haji, get his other arm," he said as he firmly pinned Freddie's right hand against the ground.

Yuki smiled as Freddie's eyes slowly opened and briefly focused on her.

"Hold him," Kai reiterated.

The young man's body suddenly went stiff, as if every muscle in his body had a mind of its own.

He gasped deeply, and Yuki watched in horror as he writhed violently and cried out in agony.

It seemed to take all of Haji's strength to hold on the young man's left arm, grinding it into the lawn as he struggled. Not possessing super human strength, Kai quickly lost the grip of the limb he had assigned himself to, the unleashed arm clawed ferociously at the air, the initial swing narrowly missing Kai's face.

Freddie's spasms intensified in a gresome crecendo until his back arched and he let out one last paroxysmal, gutteral groan. Freddie's body suddenly went limp, some color and firmness having returned to his skin, his eyes still staring vacantly into nothingness, his pupils having contracted to tiny specks, as if he were staring into a bright light.  
"Did it work?" Yuki asked, her voice trembling.

"Yeah, I guess it did," Kai answered, his voice strangely somber, his mind having wandered back to the only other time he had witnessed the transformation. He placed his hand on his chest, his palm resting just over his heart, his thumb grazing the crimson jeweled necklace he had worn every day for the past three decades.

A voice came from the direction of the backdoor.

"What the hell did you do to my house?" Mao shrieked through the shattered kitchen window.

"Shut-the-fuck-up!" Kai yelled, but not in the bratty tone usually used when he uttered that expression. He actually sounded as if he was somewhere near crying.

Mao noticed this odd tone in his voice and ran outside, soon followed by George, still in his baseball uniform. They both approached, stepping over the various corpse corps parts strewn about the yard. Apparently this wasn't a particularly new experience for them.

"Look at my lawn! And they trampled my butterfly ginger! God damn Americans, attacking us at home, the nerve… " Mao muttered until they were both standing over Freddie as well.

"Holy crap," she gasped. "Is he going to be alright?"

"Depends on what your idea of 'alright' is," Kai said dispiritedly. He paused before letting out a deep sigh. "George, go inside and call Lewis, tell him there's been an incident and we need a clean up crew. Then call Dr. Julia, tell her there's been an incident and – and she's got a new _special_ patient."

* * *

Sorry if that was crappy, action is not exactally my forte.

Don't forget to tell me what you think!


	18. Kiss from a Queen, Part 3

Saya and Yuki sat on the couch in the living room, while Kai, Lewis, and Lewis' new protégé, Joel, sat around the kitchen table.

"Does it strike anyone else as odd that he just happened to show up less than five minutes before the corpse corps?" Kai asked skeptically.

"Yeah, that occurred to me," Lewis said with a nod.

"Don't you think he's probably a spy or something?"

"If there's one thing I know, it's spying, and he doesn't really strike me as one."

"Why do you say that?"

"If the US military had sent him, they probably would have taught him enough about chiropterans to know not to walk right up to Yuki while she was wounded and clearly in a killing frenzy."

"He's too stupid to be a spy," young Joel added.

"Yeah but think about it, first he happens to see Yuki break her arm, now this – either there's more to him than meets the eye or he really knows how to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. You really think we should trust him?"

"I didn't say that, but the fact is, it really doesn't matter if he was a spy or not, he's a Chevalier now, when he wakes up, he'll have the uncontrollable compulsion to follow Yuki around and do whatever she says – he wont be a threat."

"But we need to keep in mind that a Chevalier's loyalty isn't absolute."

"Yeah, our provisional agent in Honolulu proves that well enough," Joel chimed in, keeping with his tenancy to state the obvious.

Lewis ignored him. "Well, I've done a preliminary background check on him, just a web search – Full name Frederic Gardener, day job at a music shop in Naha, 20 years old, born in Okinawa, only child of Atsuko Miyahara and Lieutenant Ronald Gardener, they split up years ago, he went back to the states and she died in 2029."

"Hmm," young Joel put his hand to his chin. "Mother's dead and father's in the states – perfect, that saves us from having to explain all this to his family."

"A bit too perfect if you ask me," Kai muttered.

* * *

"So, he's going to follow me forever?"

"Yeah, that's kind of how Chevaliers work."

Yuki was silent.

"Yuki?"

She gave an uncomfortable smile. "It's just that – I like him, I guess I even have a bit of a crush on him, but the truth is, I barely know him and now it's like – it's like he's my husband."

Saya shook her head. "It doesn't have to be like that."

"But I thought you and Haji-"

"Yuki, it was like more than a hundred years before we actually – um, started to have that kind of a relationship."

Yuki was silent for a moment. "But if you two weren't together-together, what were you doing all that time?"

Saya was silent.

"Saya?"

"I – I cant tell you right now," she said softly.

"Why not?"

Saya was silent again.

"Saya! Why wont you tell me anything about what happened before I lost my memories! I know you know! Why won't you tell me about my past! Tell me, dammit!" Yuki whined.

"Yuki!" Saya shouted so as to be heard over her _sister's_ ranting. Yuki turned to her and Saya's voice softened. "Yuki, the truth is -"

Saya hesitated.

"What?"

"The truth is - we really don't know about your past, we found you wandering around in France, we aren't really sure how you got there, or what happened to you before that, but we do know that you are - "

Saya hesitated again.

"The same as I am."

Yuki took a moment to digest this conveniently abridged form of the truth. "I guess I kind of knew there was no car crash, I just kind of wanted to believe it, you know." She paused. "We're not really sisters are we?"

Saya put her hand over her shoulder. "We're family."

Yuki hugged her affectionately as she often did.

A few seconds passed before they returned to their previous subject.

"Freddie will want to be around you and help you out, but I don't think he'll necessarily want to – you know."

"Hmm."

Saya giggled. "If I didn't know better, I would say you were disappointed to hear that!"

"Well I told you I had a crush on him!"

The two girls giggled, until they both caught the sound of someone walking down the stairs. Yuki hopped up and bounded over to Julia, now standing in the hallway between the living room and the kitchen, simultaneously addressing the two parties.

"He's awake."

"Already? It's only been a few hours, Riku was out for days."

"Yeah, but if I remember correctly, Haji was only unconscious for a few minutes."

"Where is Haji anyway?"

"He's outside keeping watch, in case the corpse corps come back."

"Well," said Julia, "he is awake, and I think you can guess who he is asking to see."

Everyone turned and looked at Yuki.

* * *

The group assembled in the guest bedroom where Freddie had been placed. Yuki was the last one to enter.

"Yuki!" Freddie exclaimed as he sat up so quickly that he bumped his head on the IV rack hanging over him. He rubbed the top of his head. "Um, I forgot what I was going to say."

The room was silent.

"Oh yeah, hey, what happened anyway? I came over to your house and, these army guys with swords were fighting your sister, you were fighting them too, your eyes were all weird and blue, I mean, they're always blue, but they were like – I don't know, made me think of "Dune" though. You got hurt and – that's all I remember. What happened?"

Yuki drew in a deep breath, but Saya spoke before she could. "You were badly hurt, and Yuki saved your life with her blood," said Saya, believing that it would be easier on Yuki if he didn't know that she was the one who killed him.

"You mean that _special blood? _How's that work_?"_

"You drank it."

Freddie's frowned briefly. "Well I guess I can't complain, I'm alive aren't I? So…" He let out a brief chuckle. "Am I a vampire now or something?" he said, apparently joking.

He didn't get the laughs he expected. His lighthearted smile faded as he glanced at the stony faces around him.

"Holy crap," he stammered. "That's it isn't it. That's what a _chiro-whatcha-call-it _really is, isn't it?" he spent several seconds in silent thought, before letting out a shallow, heartless laugh. "Always figured vampires were real."

"Why is that?" asked Joel.

"I figure that myths always have a basis in reality. What's a dragon if not a dinosaur?" Freddie paused and thoughtfully stared off into space for several seconds. "I can still go out in the sun right?"

Yuki nodded.

"He's taking this rather well, isn't he?" Saya whispered to Kai, who responded with a _hmph_.

Yuki sighed. "We have a lot to talk about."

* * *

Yuki had stayed behind to talk to Freddie, while the other's left the room. Saya and Kai had gone downstairs to talk, and Lewis had ordered Joel to carry some of Julia's equipment out to her car, while Lewis stayed behind to talk to her.

"You look like something's bothering you."

"Yes… The incident at the MET showed that a Queen's blood looses its potency after she gives birth, right?"

"Yeah."

"I would have thought that would also mean she looses her ability to make Chevaliers." She paused. "I wish I could do more testing, but most of my equipment is on the R.S. II."

Lewis turned to her. "Well, is he a Chevalier or not?"

"He's definitely a Chevalier."

"Well, then there you have it. Julia, there's no need to over analyze things. The boy is a Chevalier now, end of story."

"Yes," said Julia, her tone conveying much less certainty than her answer.

* * *

Their relationship seemed complicated, part brother/sister part father/daughter, and at one time, it might have been part something else as well. In Saya's mind, it was simple enough – he was just Kai. If there was ever a non-platonic element to her feelings for him, the months she had spent believing him to be her adoptive father had killed it dead. As for Kai, he had had thirty years to get over her, and any romantic feelings for her seemed so distantly in the past, that he had convinced himself that they never even existed.

Saya sat at the kitchen table, Kai walked in with a cold beer in his hand.  
"Hmm, I guess I should offer you one of these too. You're way past drinking age."

"I've never really liked beer."

Kai narrowed his eyes in thought and walked back in to the kitchen, only to return a few moments later with a glass of red liquid.

"This ought to suit you a bit better."

"Oh, um, well I already had a transfusion today."

"It's wine, stupid," Kai said as he placed the cup in front of her.

"Oh…" she looked at the glass.

"C'mon Saya, you were raised in France, I'm sure you and wine get along nicely."

He was right. She smiled slightly as her mind wandered into ancient memories, sitting at the long table with Joel as a child, a little glass of watered-down wine in her hand. She almost laughed as she recalled how Haji used to tease her for being able to hold her liquor better than he could, despite him being at least twice her size. Haji was no lightweight, but Saya could down a whole bottle with no ill effect, if she was thirsty enough. She wasn't human, after all.

Kai began to speak as she took a sip.

"So, there's a new plan."

Saya made eye contact, to confirm that she was listening.

"The military knows we live here, so we can't stay in this house. George is going to go stay with his grandpa, I figure he'll be pretty safe with old-man Jahana and his yakuza around. The rest of us, I think we'd better just go to Hawaii, help out the twins, and hopefully end this corpse corps shit once and for all."

"What about Yuki?"

"We're coming with you, of course!" exclaimed the blue eyed Queen as she emerged from behind the door jam with her Chevalier.

Kai shrugged. "You two are going to have to stay out of the way though."

"Like hell we are, we're going to fight too," cried Yuki.

"Those things need to be taken down!" Freddie exclaimed, copying his Queen's vehement tone.

Kai glared at the Chevalier. "Look, I realize that you're going to insist on following Yuki around and Yuki has to come with us, but there's no way either of you're getting anywhere near a battle."

"But Saya fights! So can I!" Yuki whined.

"Neither of you have any weapons training!"

"Hah!" Freddie burst out. "I'm one of the top archers in the prefecture, and Yuki's damn near better than I am, and getting better every day!"

"Look, I don't know if anyone has explained the rules to you yet, but bullets don't work on chiropterans, what the hell chance does an arrow have!"

The room went silent.

Yuki suddenly broke the silence. "What if we put Saya's blood on the point? It's deadly to them right?"

Kai groaned and instantly began to dump on the idea. "That wont work because - " he stopped mid sentence. He actually couldn't think of a reason. Some years ago, some _trials _(no one liked the word _experiment)_ had been performed in which bullets were coated with a sample of Saya's blood, but they soon discovered that they did not cause crystallization, Julia quickly deduced that the intense heat from the firing of the gun had caused the enzymes in the blood to break down. Thus the idea of blood-coated projectiles was abandoned.

But no one had though of using arrows, after all why would they? It's generally thought of as a hobby, not a deadly weapon.

Kai involuntarily raised his eyebrows as he made a realization. Arrows don't get hot. If the blood was fresh, there was no reason why it wouldn't work.

"Damn, that _is_ a good idea," he muttered. "But you still aren't gonna see battle."

Freddie stepped forward and looked Kai squarely in the eye. "Look, I know you don't know me, and you sure as hell don't trust me, but the fact is, I have seen how nasty those corpse corps things are, and they hurt Yuki – I don't like the idea of a world with those things in it – I cant just pretend I didn't see it, especially since they are trying to hurt someone I care about – I have to do something."

Kai groaned again, unable to deny that he had felt the exact same way when he had first gotten involved in the battle against chiropterans. Somehow, Freddie had known exactly the right buttons to push.

"Damn it."

Freddie sensed that he had won the argument and turned to Yuki. "C'mon, it's late. You should get to bed," he said as he escorted her upstairs.

Kai sat and sulked silently for a minute or two before turning to Saya.

"How's the wine?"

"Really good actually, you just had this lying around?"

"Solomon sends us a bottle every Christmas. Mao keeps saying that we need to save it for a fancy dinner party or something – like that's ever gonna happen."

* * *

By the time Saya got around to her nightly shower, everyone else in the house was asleep.

As soon as the warm water hit her skin, her mind instantly began to wander into unpleasantly stressful thoughts.

_I wonder if Yuki is really ready for this, it's only been a few weeks since she found out what a chiropteran is, and now she has a Chevalier of her own._

_Will Yuki ever remember who she was? What will happen if she realizes that she's my mother? What will she do when she finds out about Diva? _

Just as she began the surprisingly time consuming task of combing the conditioner through her knee-length hair, she sensed movement beyond the shower curtain.

Yuki often just barged into the bathroom to get a hairbrush or something while Saya was in the shower, but she at least usually had the decency to announce her presence and beg her pardon.

As Saya went back to combing, an odd thought occurred to her. She hadn't heard the door open, but she knew someone was there.

"Yuki?"

No answer.

Now she was getting creeped out. She peeked out from behind the shower curtain.

She caught sight of a very familiar form.

Oddly, that only made her heart race even more.

Nevertheless, she sighed with relief.

"Haji, what are you doing here?" she asked, the shower curtain covering all but her face.

"I didn't get a chance to talk to you earlier, and I know you have a habit of thinking too much when bathing."

"And how would you know that?"

"I know you pretty well, Saya," he said, his voice soft and frank as ever, but this time with a slight note of lighthearted teasing to it.

She smiled slightly.

"You have been worrying about Yuki."

She sighed. "How did you guess?"

"You were talking to yourself."

She blushed in embarrassment. She did have a habit of doing that in the shower.

"You were also dwelling on Diva."

Her mind returned to her thoughts from before. A tear slid involuntarily from her eye.

"She'll never forgive me - I killed my own sister – her daughter." she wept softly.

To Haji, there was only one thing to do in this situation.

Before she knew it, he was holding her tightly, standing, fully clothed in the shower with her.

She quietly cried against him, for the moment, not seeming to notice the odd situation. She wasn't sure how long it went on, by the time she had fully had her cry out, his suit was sopping wet.

She slowly looked up at him and before she had a chance to feel awkward, she felt herself falling into his gaze.

The warm water beat down on her shoulders as their lips found each other. It wasn't long before his hands began to wander and something, having nothing to do with his hands, mysteriously poked her, as if to remind her what all this was likely to lead to.

But it was Haji that pulled away. It wasn't that a kiss from a naked Saya was not often on his mind. He simply wasn't adequately confident that he would be able to control himself if things got much more intense, not so much because of his chiropteran side, it was his human side he was worried about. He felt that it wasn't her responsibility to stop him.

But more was at stake than just her virginity, he knew that a lapse of self control here might mean continuing to spend most of his eternity waiting for her to wake up.

He tenderly kissed her forehead and disappeared.

She simply stood there for several seconds, bewildered by what had just happened before she peeked out of the curtain, fully intending to apologize for his wet clothes if nothing else.

No one was there.

* * *

Well, I don't think that chapter turned out that great. I promise, it'll get more interesting soon.

Please review!


	19. Ho’omakākiu

"Saya! Look!"

Even thought it wasn't a very long drive, a combination of jet lag and a red-eye flight had caused her to fall asleep in the car, her head against the window, her breath creating an ever expanding and contracting circle of condensation on it.

"Saya! Look!" Yuki repeated as she leaned over Haji's lap to poke her.

Saya's eyes opened, and gazed out the window she was leaning against.

A recent storm had created a pair of rainbows and trio of impromptu waterfalls on the emerald green, vertical, rain-carved mountains, creating a scene that seemed far too beautiful for something one would see while simply driving on the freeway.

As soon as a battle plan could be prepared – they would go Maui, being the closest major island to Kaho'olawe. It had been decided that the attack would be launched from Kihei, a town just across the channel from the small island. Unfortunately, that was all they had been able to plan, so far.

The problem was that even with Lewis' expert hacking, all they had managed to find out was that every bit of information on that lab was locked away behind some impossible encryption.

In the mean time, they planned to stay at their Oahu base of operations. They had left the original condo several months ago for security purposes, and had resettled at a new place on the less populated, windward side of the island, once again a beach side rental, since it had been decided that this made them look more like ordinary tourists than if they had rented an apartment, as had been done in the past.

It was a shabby house, but this was difficult to tell from the outside, since apparently it had recently been painted a bright, caution-tape yellow color. Thus the twins referred to it as "yellow house." They and Solomon had been staying there for several weeks, and had more recently been joined by the two Davids. David Jr. often claimed to be completely recovered_, _but he knew as well as anyone that his body was still adapting to his artificial lungs and he was no where near as healthy as he once was. He still had to wear an oxygen tube at all times.

There was a small welcoming party waiting for them at the end of the driveway – Aka and Ruka stood there, each with a few leis on their arms. The two Davids were inside, hovering over a computer.

Saya didn't realize that she was expecting to see Solomon amongst the welcoming party until she realized that he wasn't there, a man with a black hat and umbrella was nowhere to be seen.

The weary travelers jumped out of the car. Before any excited, affectionate greetings could be exchanged, both the twins briefly vanished. When they reappeared, everyone in the party was wearing one of the white, plumeria leis.

Saya found the sight of the garland on Haji somewhat amusing.

"It looks good on you," she giggled.

Haji looked down at the flowers now around his neck, gingerly pinching the garland as he examined it.

Freddie approached Aka and Ruka. "Hey that was a neat trick," he turned to Haji and patted him on the back. "Sensei, can you teach me how to do that?"

Freddie had been calling him that ever since Saya had proposed that Haji teach Freddie the basics of being a Chevalier. Haji had already politely mentioned that he preferred to simply be called 'Haji,' but that seemed to only make Freddie more intent on using the formal, and in this case, half-sarcastic, title.

Haji nodded.

Meanwhile, Kai had started unloading the luggage from the van. He pulled non-descrip black suitcases from the back, until he came to one iconic piece of luggage and attempted to lift it, only to have it hit the ground with a thud.

"Holy crap Haji! This thing must weigh at least a hundred and fifty pounds! What's the hell's the case made of? Solid lead?" Kai panted.

"Steel," Haji stated.

Saya, turned to Yuki. "These are our cousins, Ruka and Akahana Miyagusuku."

Freddie grinned at the virtually identical-looking girls. "So, you two are twins? Which one of you is evil?"

Saya winced at the wise crack.

The girls simply glanced at each other.

"I am," they said simultaneously, both giving a slight smirk and shrug. A satirical question deserves a satirical answer.

Even though they were clearly just joking, Saya was desperate to steer the conversation away from 'evil twins.'

"So, you two have been here for a long time, you must be so homesick!"

"Not especially, this place is nice," said Aka.

"Yeah, and it's not all that different from Okinawa," Ruka added.

"Both Oahu and Okinawa were parts of island kingdoms that were claimed by larger nations, but still managed to hold on two their own unique culture," Freddie chimed in.

"Um, okay," Ruka said indifferently. "We were thinking more along the lines of climate and stuff."

"Yeah, the scenery is kind of similar, in some ways," added Aka.

Freddie put his fist to his chin in a thinker pose. "I guess that's why they filmed "Karate Kid II" here, even though it was supposed to take place in Okinawa."

"He's so knowledgeable about history and old movies and stuff_,_" Yuki stated proudly.

The twins shrugged and started back toward the house.

Saya walked quickly to catch up with them. "Um, hey, is Solomon around?" she asked quietly.

"Nah, he's on an recon mission."

* * *

Kaho'olawe.  
It wasn't what a Hawaiian island should look like at all. The only green came from the few sparsely scattered bushes and trees. Deforestation and American bombs had destroyed the land.

After years of use for target practice, it was supposed to be given back to the people, to become part of a sovereign Hawaiian Nation, but it didn't come as much of a surprise when the US went back on it's word. It wouldn't have been the first promise it broken with its native people.

As far as most people knew, the island was now no more than a federal nature preserve – though there was very little nature left.

He had made up his mind to go through with it when he heard that his new comrades were having a great deal of trouble gathering information on the facility.

Intelligence would have to be gathered the good old-fashioned way.

He landed just beside one of the many dry, eroded gullies that covered the island, and used his impressive speed to explore the area undetected. He took notice of a large cluster of machinery.

_An air defense cannon – not a problem for me to get past, but I'm sure it could shoot down any aircraft attempting to land. _

Next would be the tricky part - he needed to get inside the underground base itself.

It didn't take long for him to find the facility's two doors, a large one facing the a helicopter landing pad, the other a small, normal sized door that seemed to be little more than an emergency exit. The main door was surrounded by several guards but by the backdoor, there was one, lone corpse corps, and it appeared to be standing just outside the view of the security camera. Perfect.

Killing the thing would be easy – the hard part would be killing it without damaging it's uniform.

He knew that this had to be done carefully, and took several minutes to plan his attack. Then, in a matter of seconds, the body had been dragged to a nearby gulch, and Solomon was wearing a mostly intact corpse corps uniform.

He had never really liked shape shifting, but as a chiropteran, he was capable of it. However, the grafted parts of his body seemed unable to change to different human forms – otherwise, he could have given himself his old, pre-injury appearance.

Fortunately, in this case, the grafts didn't need to change. The rest of his body faded to match the grafts, giving him a near perfect likeness of a standard corpse corps unit. He assumed the position of the guard he had just killed. Eventually its shift would end, and the door would open, or so he had reasoned.

Unfortunately, he hadn't counted on the shift being so long, leaving him standing by the door for nearly eight hours, and forcing him to abandon his plans to greet Saya upon her arrival. However, it had been sometime since he had figured that the best way to win Saya's affection was to fight for her cause.

Suddenly, a voice came from the earpiece. "C.C. 24-048, report to level 4 for sustenance injection."

The door opened – he was in. he activated the tiny GPS recorder he had hidden in his boot, allowing David to track his movements from his computer, and giving them a basic layout of the base.

He knew he had to work quickly, even though he looked like every other "C.C." it wouldn't be long before someone noticed that he wasn't where he had been ordered to go.

The whole facility had such a sterile, soulless feeling to it, from the gray concrete floors to the white walls, lined with fluorescent lights. He also noticed the security cameras mounted where the wall met the ceiling, which did not appear out of the ordinary, except for the black-metal barrel sticking out just below the lense.

_Interesting, they have machine-guns attached to the security cameras – once again, not too much of a threat to a chiropteran, but certain death to a human._

He came upon an elevator, a diagram on the wall beside it, indicating the purpose of each floor. He did his best to memorize it.

_Ground Level – offices, Level 6 - labs 1 through 3, Level 5 - labs 4 through 8, Level 4 – Matenence, Level 3 – Tank 1, Level 2 – Tank 2, Level 1 – Unit Storage._ He repeated over and over in his mind.

Just as he was about to step into the elevator, something caught his attention. A young man passed by, with black hair and eyes an even brighter green than his own. Corpse corps. However, he was clearly unlike the other units – he wore his hair slicked back in a sophisticated style, and instead of the standard utilitarian uniform, he wore an unbuttoned white lab coat over a gray business suit.

Solomon decided to trust his instincts, and discretely followed him until he walked into an open door, beside it, a small plaque that read 'Program Director.'

Solomon stood just outside the doorway, hoping to over hear some information.

"Van, good to see you, I can't wait to hear what you have to say about our operation," came a deep, soft yet somehow coarse voice, virtually identical to the late Moses.

_I should have known that Van was the one running this operation._

"Well, I am quite curious to see what you have been up to."

Solomon arched a brow. _What happened to his accent?_ _That's definitely his voice, but he sounds like an American._

The soft yet coarse voice came again. "Lurking in doorways is rude, you know. Come in."

Solomon discretely took a deep breath and walked into the room, still fairly confident that he could pull this off.

The room was quite different from the others he had passed, the floor was covered in a rich, royal blue carpet, reproductions of famous paintings hanging on any area of the wall that wasn't obscured by a bookshelf, and furnished with a cherry stained executive desk and a few comfortable chairs.

An aged Van Argano stood beside the lab coat clad artificial chiropteran.

Van watched curiously as the corpse corps looked the disguised Solomon over carefully and smirked. "Tell me, how does an average, run of the mill C.C. unit go about acquiring such a delectable cologne?"

Solomon flinched in his mask as he kicked himself inwardly. It hadn't even occurred to him that something so trivial might give him away. Had silence not been absolutely necessary, he might have said a swearword for the first time in decades.

The corpse corps walked up to him and ripped off his mask. Solomon still optimistically hoping that his rouse had not been foiled, tried to maintain a listless expression as the man carefully examined his face from an uncomfortably close distance. Solomon noticed his eyes fix on the left side of his face, as the dark-haired chiropteran lightly ran his fingers over the area where his natural body met the graft.

"Hmm," said the sharply dressed artificial chiropteran. "Corpse corps grafts, that must make you - Solomon Goldsmith."

Solomon's years as the CEO of a major corporation had given his plenty of experience in the areas of lying and deception, but it had not prepared him for this. Disguise was clearly no longer a viable option.

In the blink of an eye, three quarters of his body changed to his true appearance. Naturally, the grafted areas remained unchanged.

Van gawked at him for a few seconds before regaining his composure and wit.

"Solomon," he said with sarcastic sympathy, "what happened to your lovely face?" he snickered.

Solomon smirked at his former friend. "Van, what happened to your lovely accent?" he calmly retorted.

Van chuckled. "Ah yes, well – I ended up spending eleven years in a federal prison for my involvement in that whole sordid affair all those years ago, and wouldn't you know it? A French accent is a bit of a liability in prison – apparently it doesn't sound very tough, so I had to shed it during my stretch to avoid getting beat up, amongst other things." He paused. "You know, you would have been in my place if I hadn't been given your position as CEO. Ah, how I used to lay awake on my piss-stained cot imagining what prison would have been like for you – such a pretty boy, you would have been treated like a queen – a very sore queen – that or I suppose you could have used your monstrous powers and been exposed for what you really are – you would have probably ended up a test subject, yourself." Van paused. "But when the US renewed its interest in the corpse corps, I was paroled in exchange for sharing my expertise."

Solomon sighed. "Van, I should have known you were the one behind all this."

The sweet toothed Frenchmen laughed. "Me? Behind this? Oh, no no no, I retired years ago, and am only a consultant on the current project. My friend here is the one who is in charge."

Solomon looked at the well dressed corpse corps.

"C.C. 17-1," Van continued, "Professor Collins nicknamed him 'Gershom,' as in the son of the biblical Moses. Gershom was his first successful prototype for a thorn-free corpse corps, and what do you know, Collins was so proud of his creation that he made him his protégé and later, his replacement – in my younger days I would have been quite jealous. It seems that Gershom was the mark Collins always wanted to leave on the world."

Gershom stepped forward. "Now, now Van, will you please cease your prattling, you are monopolizing the conversation. I would very much like to talk to our guest, I've never met a real Chevalier in person before," he said, with his hands casually behind his back. "I suppose one could even say that you and I are _half brothers_," he laughed heartily at his own quip for several seconds before noticing that no one else was laughing. "Because of the grafts, get it?" He managed to get a very slight, forced chortle out of Van and nothing at all out of Solomon.

Gershom glared at them for a moment. "You'll have to forgive my underdeveloped sense of humor, I don't get out much." He paused for several seconds. "Now then, I suppose you're here to spy on us aren't you? I hope so, because if you intend to destroy this facility by yourself, you're sorely out of luck. Oh yes, we do have a self destruct mechanism here – my superiors were quite adamant about that lest they have another MET on their hands, it's wired directly to the pentagon, but I suppose even the Red Shield couldn't break into that. It can be activated manually from our control room, but the process is similar to that of most modern nuclear weapons – four different switches have to be turned simultaneously – it cant be done by a lone nut. It's a good thing too, it would be such a tragic waste if you were to destroy the vast majority of my _little brothers, _as well as the only facility in the world capable of making them. You see, we're finally making progress on the project, we've finally been approved to use them in a pilot program that, if successful, could mean the entire US army would be replaced with my little brothers - the government has realized that their old plan was far to convoluted, but super-soldiers can be useful against more than just monsters. However, I hear that you and those little red-shield bitches have been killing them all before they can be shipped out – but I think our recent excursion to Okinawa has shown that they can't eliminate every shipment."

Solomon, not being a complete idiot, wondered why this information was being given to him so freely.

Gershom reached forward. "Well then, Mr. Goldsmith, it was a pleasure to meet you, but I am afraid I am going to have to ask you to leave my office, Van and I have some business to discuss."

Solomon, being a polite man, shook the hand he had been offered. He appeared quite calm as he exited the room, but in reality, he was fully prepared for the inevitable moment when they called the guards.

Van strode across the room to the desk phone, and dialed. "Yes, I need three – no five squads up here immediately, we have an intruder!"

Gershom appeared by his side and snatched the phone away. "Cancel that last request – false alarm – get back to work," he said sternly.

Van's mouth dropped wide open as he stared at his associate.

"Have you lost your damn mind?!"

The lab coat clad corpse corps unit chuckled as his high-strung associate continued. "You're just going to let him leave?! Our losses would be considerable, but with enough units I am sure he could be taken down! You're going to just let him walk out with all that information – you basically gave him a tutorial on how to how to blow this place up! I'm sure they'll use that information to plan an attack – he and his red shield buddies will be back!"

"Exactly."

"Okay, now I really think you've lost your mind."

Gershom chuckled again. "He will be back, and most likely with Diva's offspring, Saya Otonashi and if we are very lucky, that other Queen that just appeared out of nowhere. Do you realize how valuable any one of them would be as a test subject? Even if we can only capture one, it would be tremendously useful, with a different Queen, we could develop a whole new strain," he laughed. "Oh yes, he'll come back with his Red Shield buddies, and when he does, we'll be prepared."

* * *

Ho'omakākiu: To spy, also: to watch with a jealous eye, to lie in wait to do evil.

I feel like I kinda went out on a limb with this chapter. I'd be curious to know what people think of my new villain, even though he's going to be a pretty minor character in this story. I didn't want to use Van because so many other have done that, and I figured Collins would be dead or really, really old by then, so I had to come up with someone new.


	20. Anuenue kau pō

"Flying is like swimming," the stoic Chevalier had explained, "It comes naturally, as long as you don't panic."

The first lesson had been the previous day at the Nu'uanu Pali lookout, a mountainside cliff with winds of over fifty miles per hour constantly blowing over it. A natural wind tunnel – and the ideal place for a flying lesson.

Everyone else that was present also learned a lesson.

Saya and Yuki learned not to wear skirts to the Nu'uanu Pali, and everyone else learned what color underwear they were wearing that evening.

Freddie appeared to be the adventurous type, exhibiting less hesitation than most people would when Haji first told him to step off the top of the railing, and he seemed to take to flying very quickly.

So quickly that they had already moved on to lesson two: flying with a passenger.

It was nearly two in the morning, but the difference in time zones meant that it didn't feel nearly that late.

Any passerby who happened to defy the human tendency not to look upwards would have probably just thought they were seeing a pair of large sea birds, the elevation of the two chevaliers was great enough to mask their distinctive, angel-like silhouettes.

Since it was Haji doing the teaching, Freddie had learned how to produce wings without changing the rest of his body.

The two Chevaliers glided across the clear night sky, carrying their respective Queens, bridal style. They had been flying over the ocean, a relatively forgiving terrain in the event of a crash.

Haji nodded at his apprentice as he began to gradually loose altitude. It was time to practice landing.

Haji descended slowly, with the grace and ease of a swan-feather, his boots not even making a sound as they made contact with the powder-like beach sand.

Freddie, seemed unable to position his wings in such a way that would allow him to descend slowly, and plummeted toward the ground for a moment before panicking and spreading his wings once more, flying parallel with the beach, only a few feet above it.

"Shit…… Shit……. Shit…… Shit…...Shit!"

His feet skidded along the ground like a duck landing in water, only with considerably less grace and considerably more swearing. Seeming desperate to finally come to a halt, he dug his feet into the sand, unfortunately causing him to fall and tumble forward as Yuki flew out of his arms, landing face first in a sand dune, where a few egrets had apparently been sleeping.

The birds squawked curses as they flew away from the two sand-covered vampires.

Even Haji couldn't help laughing at the ridiculous landing.

Freddie pushed him self to his feet, and straightened his rumpled, auburgine-purple wings. Yuki, now covered head to toe in sand, approached her clumsy Chevalier.

"It's easy, you said! I've totally got the hang of it, you said! It's like my body already knows how to do it! What a load of crap!" Yuki groaned as she wiped some sand from her face.

"Aww! Give me a break will ya? All that extra weight threw my balance off!"

"What do you mean 'all that extra weight!?"

"Oh come on, you know that's not what I meant!"

Yuki crossed her arms and glared at him, her hair still caked with sand.

Freddie sighed. "Here, hang on a minute," he said as he flapped his wings at her, creating enough wind to blow most of the sand off. "Better?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry, I just need a bit more practice."

Yuki still looked perturbed, until Freddie approached, and whispered something in her ear.

She blushed and giggled, and all was mysteriously forgiven.

By that time, Saya and Haji had walked over to the crash site.

"Perhaps some more 'solo' practice is in order before you try carrying her again," Haji suggested.

"You got it, sensei! – lets go!"

The two Chevaliers took flight, both launching himself off the ground with a powerful jump before unfurling his wings and gliding out over the water.

The two Queens sat on the sand, watching their respective Chevaliers.

Yuki fidgeted with a lock of her hair.

"Saya, have you and Haji ever gone all the way?"

Saya's eyes widened at the sudden, provocative question.

"Um, no."

Yuki's eyes narrowed. "Then why are you blushing?" she asked with a smirk.

"It's a really personal question!"

"C'mon, you can tell me."

"I already did!"

Yuki giggled. "You really expect me to believe that?"

"It's true!"

"Oh come on! He even sleeps in your freakin' room now!"

Saya let out an exasperated sigh. "First of all, Haji doesn't sleep -"

"Yeah, I bet he doesn't!"

"You know what I meant!" Saya paused. "I'm telling you, we've never done it."

Yuki seemed to be willing to accept this answer now, but only with some sort of explanation.

"But you two have been together for so long, and you clearly love each other, why not just drop the other shoe?"

"It's complicated," Saya sighed.

Yuki giggled. "Um, not really, you see, first you kiss, then you take off your clothes, then he puts his naughty thing in your naughty place. The rest kind of takes care of it's self."

Saya rolled her eyes. "I know that!"

Yuki's head tilted inquisitively. "Then why is it complicated?"

Saya had been backed into an inquisitional corner, but suddenly, a believable, non-embarrassing and technically true answer came to her.

"We're just waiting until we get married."

"Really? How quaint!" Yuki said with a delighted, yet somehow condecending, smile. "But how is that _complicated?"_

_Wow, _Saya couldn't help but think, _my mother is teasing me for being a virgin! _

"Why are you asking me this anyway?!"

Now Yuki blushed.

"Yuki?"

"Well," she said, her voice soft yet ecstatic, "Last night, Freddie and I -"

Saya let out a scandalized gasp. "You didn't!"

"Oh yes we did!" Yuki whispered excitedly as she softly clapped her hands. "After I went to bed, he came into my room to give me a good night kiss, apparently he does that every night, but this time, I woke up and kind of kissed him back and – well, one thing led to another."

Though Saya had grown out of it after the zoo tragedy, both she and her sister were impulsive by nature, and apparently this was an inherited trait.

Yuki decided to continue, flattering herself with the thought that it was her duty to explain certain things to her less experienced friend.

"It actually didn't hurt at all – I mean, it was a little uncomfortable at first, but it didn't hurt."

_Of course it didn't, you've obviously done it before, _Saya thought.

Yuki paused, waiting for some kind of response.

Saya was very much done with the conversation – she didn't exactly approve of Yuki's decision to sleep with a man she had only known for several weeks and wasn't officially in a relationship with, not to mention Saya wasn't particularly keen on hearing all about her mother's sexual encounter, amnesiac or not.

"Saya, are you listening?"

"Yeah."

"You don't sound like you're happy for me."

"I am happy for you…"

"What?"

"It's just that – I kind of wonder if - well, you and Freddie haven't known each other that long."

"Just because you decided to be a prude with your boyfriend, doesn't mean everyone else has to! I love Freddie, and he loves me!"

_Yes, but he barely knows you – it's probably just his blood that loves you, _Saya thought.

Yuki became even more offended by Saya's silence. She lifted her nose into the air as she stood and began angrily walking back toward the house.

"You know what? Disapprove all you want, I don't care! You're not my mother, you know!" Yuki shouted as she stomped off.

Saya sighed as she allowed her self to fall backwards, her head hitting the sand with a subtle thud.

_Why does life have to be so complicated?_

She gazed up at the night sky, and took notice of the moon.

_Wow, they even have rainbows at night, here._

It wasn't an ordinary lunar halo – it was a full on rainbow – each color bright and defined as they encircled the glowing orb.

Just as this natural wonder began to take Saya's off one of the major dilemmas she was facing, the other one appeared beside her.

"Hello Saya."

Solomon was sitting a few inches away from her, leaning over her as she lay on the sand.

She let out a squeak of surprise, and sat up so quickly that her forehead bumped his quite forcefully.

"Oh! Sorry! Sorry sorry!" she cried, more than a hair past mortified.

He simply chuckled as he sat up. "Quite alright – you know us Chevaliers have a high tolerance for pain."

She sat silently, wallowing in her embarrassment.

"I'm sorry if I am intruding, it's just that I rarely get a chance to speak to you alone," he said, unconsciously glancing upwards at the two Chevaliers soaring a few thousand feet above.

"Oh."

He smiled uncomfortably – though it looked just as amiable and sincere as always. "I think you can guess what I am going to bring up."

She could – and part of her desperately wanted to change the subject – but it couldn't be avoided forever.

"Yeah…"

He drew in a deep breath. "Nathan told me that you wanted to have children with me," he paused, "however, I know that Nathan is – well, Nathan, and it's entirely possible that he was just teasing me. Is what he told me true?"

"Yes," she murmured, a deep blush spreading across her face.

She caught his smile out of the corner of her eye, and somehow felt the urgent urge to elaborate. "Nathan told me it meant I wouldn't have to sleep anymore," she hastily added. "Do you think he was telling me the truth?"

"It's hard to say for sure, however, I was privy to some test results from Diva that suggest that what he said was true."

"Test results?"

"Over the years, Amshel discovered a way to predict exactly how long it would be before Diva went into hibernation by looking at levels of hormones in her blood – the more of a certain hormone, I don't recall what it was called, but the more she had – the closer she was to hibernation. However, after she became pregnant and gave birth, it virtually disappeared." He paused. "I suppose that does not prove anything – but it does corroborate Nathan's story."

Saya considered this for a moment. It sounded plausible, but she also had no way of knowing if Solomon was lying to her. In all honesty, the thought had occurred to her that this could possibly be some scheme to get her to sleep with him. After all, this was the man who kidnapped her and put her naked in his bed – sweet and polite though he seemed, the possibility of him being a pervert with an enabling brother couldn't be ruled out yet.

"Solomon – is that really true?"

He looked at her intensely. "Saya, have I ever been anything except completely honest with you?"

She thought back to all of her previous dealings with him and a realization came over her – all the time she had known him, all though his transformation from enemy to ally, villain to savior, one thing did remain completely constant about him – he had never lied to her, nor withheld the truth.

The first time they met, he had confessed his unflattering reason for asking her to dance, even at the risk of offending her, and he could have just as easily kept it to himself. The second time they met, he had virtually introduced himself as Diva's Chevalier. That was also the afternoon when he explained hibernation to her, as well as the ulterior motives of her beloved first father – things everyone else had hid from her. The third time they met, he told her where she could find Diva, though it turned out that he had been misinformed. The fourth time, he admitted his mistake and quite publicly and in no uncertain terms declared himself to be in love with her.

The fifth time – well, he said a lot of things that night.

"Saya?"

"I'm sorry," she lowered her eyes, " – your right, you've never given me any reason not to trust you."

He smiled broadly at the statement, and she slowly raised her eyes to meet his.

"Well then, I suppose we should wait until this corpse corps business is over then – we wouldn't want your blood to loose its potency just yet."

"Yes."

After a silence that seemed much longer than it actually was, he turned to her with a smile.

"Well, now that we've discussed the nessasary subject, I was hoping we could talk for a while."

"We are talking."

He smiled again, "I mean just a normal conversation, not about the future of our species or the war, just talk, like normal people."

"Oh."

He looked upwards. "So, Haji is teaching young Freddie how to fly?"

"Yes."

"I would offer to give him a lesson too, but it seems that Haji would be a better teacher for him, since they have the same type of wings."

"Same type?"

"Freddie's wings come out of his back like Haji's, instead of being attached to his arms, like mine. I guess that's why he's able to half-transform with out much trouble."

"Half?"

"I would imagine that if he fed enough, Haji could look just as monstrous as any chiropteran if he allowed himself to, and I suppose the same goes for Freddie." He paused. "For a Chevalier, our ultimate strength comes when we are in our true form, perhaps I should teach Freddie about that."

"Hm."

"But I suppose maintaining a mostly human appearance does have it's advantages."

"Like what?" she asked, mainly to confirm that she was still listening.

"Well, for one thing, when one fully transforms, it's necessary to learn how to use one's exceptional speed in order to change in and out of one's clothes."

"Why?"

"Because for an inexperienced or overzealous Chevalier who doesn't bother to undress, the transformation would rip their clothing to shreds."

Saya could vaguely recall seeing this happen when fighting the Phantom and Grigori Rasputin.

"While in full chiropteran form," Solomon continued, "it isn't much of a problem if they don't mind ruining a set of clothes – however, it does leave them in a very embarrassing situation when they change back to human form."

Saya had never considered this before.

Suddenly, a mental image came to her of her foes after battle, tip-toeing from bush to bush to hide their nakedness.

She began laughing.

Somehow, this vision of those men, suddenly and involuntarily naked as the day they were born and with no clothes in sight, was absolutely hysterically funny. These men who had, in truth, terrified her, were now, in her mental image, reduced to such ridiculous powerlessness, completely unintimidating and to Saya – completely hilarious.

Before she knew it, she was laying on her back, her body completely taken over by hysterical and uncontrollable laughter.

She couldn't remember the last time she had laughed so hard.

Solomon laughed too, not because he found his own statement to be particularly funny. The joy he derived from making her laugh was just too great to be expressed in with a mere smile.

Several seconds later, Saya's fit of laugher subsided with a sigh, and while still laying on the ground, she swiped the back of her hand across her eyes, to wipe away the laughter-induced tears.

But when she removed her hand from her eyes, she saw that Solomon was leaning over her, one hand on either side of her body, looking at her with unmistakable adoration and desire.

It was that same look as in her dream.

In a moment of extreme naivete, she wondered why he kept glancing at her lips.

By the time she realized, it was too late to turn away, and the ground beneath her head gave her no escape.

If ever a man were _truly_ unable to help himself, it was then. Something about seeing her laugh so wholeheartedly, and for him no less, made him completely helpless against his love for her.

He abruptly, though not entirely without warning, lowered his face down to hers, her lips still parted in a post-laughter smile.

He kissed her.

Her lips remained entirely passive for a moment, before closing softly in such a way as to make him unable to tell if she was simply denying him further access or subtly kissing him back.

She couldn't quite tell either.

Encouraged by the lack of outright rejection, he slid one hand under her neck and the other arm, under her back as he lowered his body onto hers. He lightly ran his tongue along her lips, not so much to insist on deepening the kiss, but more because he just _had_ to taste her, even if only for a moment.

Only a few seconds later, he felt her body tense beneath him, her lashes brushing against his face as her eyes opened.

He knew this meant he had taken it too far, and pulled away. She abruptly sat up, and he sat beside her, unsure if she would chastise him, slap him or kiss him again.

She wasn't quite sure either.

Instead, she simply stood up and silently began walking towards the house, too unnerved even to offer a lame excuse for her abrupt departure, let alone remind him that she was engaged and in love with someone else.

Solomon watched her until she disappeared into the yellow house.

His passion at least appeased if not sated, he grinned as he leaned back on his hands and gazed at the multi-colored lunar halo, pondering how it was still anyone's game.

_She once spoke of 'sweet dreams about a future together.' If I have not reminded her of them yet, then I will certainly have an excellent opportunity before long._

_

* * *

_

Anuenue' _kau po – rainbow at night_

Let me know what you think of this chapter/story so far!


	21. Hāku’i

Each Chevalier had their own unique reason for ending up in their position.

Amshel had become a Chevalier simply because the scientist in him was desperate to know how his subject's blood would effect a human if ingested, so one afternoon, he simply took the initiative to find out.

Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was changed a few decades later, mainly because Amshel saw that Grigori possessed the same ruthless curiosity as himself, and would make an excellent partner. Later, Grigori would be known to history as being the corrupt spiritual healer of the doomed Tsarevich, though in truth, he was secretly treating the young hemophiliac with weak compounds derived from chiropteran blood, only to eventually kill the boy himself.

Karl was made simply because Amshel wanted a completely disposable Chevalier, whom he could do with as he pleased. At the time, test subjects were only available from Asia, and Karl was chosen because, as a moderately well educated man of colonial Vietnam, he already spoke French in addition to his native language.

Martin Bormann was chosen exclusively due to his high rank and influence in the third reich. Amshel had predicted that the nazis would soon become the greatest power in the world, and thus an alliance with them would be a valuable. Bormann also provided him with access to an unlimited number of human test subjects from amongst those imprisoned in the death camps. Bormann would be known to history as the head of the nazi party and Hitler's personal secretary.

James was chosen when Amshel realized that he had made a miscalculation as to what country would become the world's next great super power. By the end of the war, it was clear that it would not be the nazis, but the Americans. So, Amshel ordered Bormann disposed of, and went looking for a suitable US officer to replace him. His search ended with a half dead, dark skinned young captain, and Amshel, knowing something of the US's history of racism, assumed that the young man must have been an exceptionally disciplined, obedient and talented officer to have risen to such a rank despite his race.

Nathan Mahler had been chosen simply because Amshel's plans eventually called for Diva to become an opera star, thus he reasoned that the flamboyant powerhouse of a producer would be a great asset. It wasn't until just before his death that Amshel even began to suspect the truth about his "youngest brother."

Riku Miyagusuku became a Chevalier for no other reason except that he had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Only two Chevaliers ended up in their position for the same reason.

Haji and Solomon.

Both men became Chevaliers principally because a pair of scientists were interested in chiropteran reproduction.

In Haji's case, the experiment didn't originally call for him to receive a Queen's blood, but it eventually resulted in it, none the less.

Amshel and Joel Goldschimidt I had decided to bring in a "male partner" for their subjects, both girls were to mate with the same man, thus eliminating any unnecessary genetic variables.

Haji was chosen purely out of convenience.

Amshel had been passing through a small town when he noticed a group of impoverished traveling Romani performers, and amongst them, a boy who seemed to be about the right age to be groomed as the missing piece of their experiment.

Amshel told Haji's parents that he was looking to acquire a boy to become a manservant and chaperone for his friend's daughter. The boy's parents immediately agreed to give their son to the stranger.

This was not out of lack of love, on the contrary, only the greatest and most selfless love could have induced a parent to loose all contact with their child in order to give them a better life.

It is a common misconception about 19th century society, that servants ranked near the bottom. This is far from true, servants were considerably better off than peasant farmers and the workers toiling in the factories of the industrial revolution.

Sadly, if many people of the time had been asked who ranked near the bottom of French society, widespread discrimination would have likely caused them to reply - "Gypsies." Haji's birth family spent many of their days cold and hungry, no matter how skillfully they performed their art, but if he became a rich lady's servant, he would be well fed, dressed and housed, and would likely only be looked down upon by his mistress', instead of society as a whole.

The loaf of bread Amshel offered as payment had very little to do with their decision. The stranger could give their son a better life than they could give him themselves.

This is why they didn't look back.

The other circumstances of Haji's transformation are already commonly known.

Solomon had ended up as a Chevalier for the same reason, though his transformation had been planned ahead of time.

It had been some time since Amshel and Rasputin had become very interested in his subject's reproductive abilities, more specifically, what would happen if she mated with one of her Chevaliers. However, Diva could not be prevailed upon to have sex with either Rasputin or himself. So Amshel reasoned that perhaps a young, handsome man might finally be able to tempt Diva to mate.

He found the ideal candidate in the recently orphaned, fourteen-year-old son of his late lab assistant. The boy's mother had died some years ago, and he had been sent off to boarding school when his father remarried. When the boy's father died, all of his assets were left to his widow, who wanted nothing to do with her step son, thus leaving the boy with out a home, and no money to continue his education. Naturally, Amshel hadn't given the fate of his dead assistant's son a second thought, until he met him, the day of the funeral. The young boy had a pleasant, peaceful disposition, a graceful manner and more importantly, a very pleasing appearance that would, Amshel believed, prove irresistible to his subject. So, in order to bring young Solomon under his power, he adopted him.

Amshel never became anywhere near a father figure to him, rather he simply paid for him to continue on at school. For this reason, Solomon referred to Amshel as his "big brother."

A few years later, Solomon, like every other able bodied young man he knew, became a soldier in the great war, only to be taken away from the front lines a year later, by a cloud of moldy-hay scented phosgene gas.

For the rest of his long life, he would dislike the smell of cut grass for this reason.

The year he had spent in combat had a great effect on the young man, and his guilt prompted him to pursue a career in medicine, so that he might save lives to make up for the ones he had taken. Amshel knew all about his ward's humanistic sensibilities, as well as the fear of death that inevitably takes hold of mortals who have seen a great deal of it. He used both these things to great effect when convincing Solomon to cast off his humanity and mortality to become his brother, by blood.

Solomon excepted the offer partially due to Amshel's making it look attractive from the perspective of his principles, but also out of a feeling of obligation to the man who had adopted him, not knowing the cold and calculated nature of his "big brother's" supposed altruism.

After a few months of trying to throw the Diva and Solomon together as much as possible, Amshel's patience ran out. He virtually locked the young Chevalier in Diva's bedroom, with the specific instructions to seduce and impregnate her.

Solomon, for his part, hadn't objected as much as he probably should have, himself having the same inclinations towards beautiful women as most young men, not to mention that his new found, fundamental devotion to his Queen was easy to mistake for a much deeper feeling.

However, a mating was not to be. As fond as Diva was of her handsome new Chevalier, years of abuse and neglect had left her mentally and emotionally disturbed, and she was completely unwilling to even approach this ultimate form of physical intimacy. Instead, she asked him to lie, to tell Amshel that they had done as they were told. Disappointed though he was, Solomon was happy to oblige.

The same thing would happen with all her subsequent Chevaliers, Karl would never get over that rejection, and James lived in constant denial about it. In rare moments of introspection, Solomon would occasionally wonder if Diva's rejection had the same effect on him, but he was just better at dealing with it than his brothers.

Or perhaps it _could_ be said that he dealt with it by falling in love with her twin sister.

* * *

The two chevaliers with a common explanation for their respective pasts, and a common hope for their respective futures, sat in the living room as they patiently but eagerly waited for their Queen to finish her dinner. They did their best to ignore each other as they kept themselves occupied, Haji looking over a new book of sheet music and Solomon checking his stocks on his palm computer.

Both stood when Saya finally entered the room, followed by the rest of the household.

Solomon approached her. "Saya, I was wondering if I might have a word with you outside."

His brief glance toward Haji clearly indicated that he wanted to speak to her alone. She caught this message, and a large part of her wanted to say 'anything you can say to me, you can say in front of everybody.'

Unfortunately, she knew he was exactly the sort of open person that might just take her up on that, and she didn't want Haji to just have to stand there while another man blatantly pitched woo at his fiancée, and she certainly didn't want everyone else to know about the _agreement_ she had made with Solomon.

"Alright," she said, trying to sound as unenthusiastic as possible.

"Would you accompany me on a short walk, then?"

She hesitated. Too late to say no now. "Alright."

He noticed her give a brief, apologetic glance back toward Haji.

Solomon glanced back at Haji as well, who was quite clearly not happy with him. "We are only going to the canal at the end of the cul-de-sac, you can keep an eye on her from the porch if you like," Solomon offered, his polite tone masking his attempt at making Haji look like a possessive jerk.

He escorted Saya out the door.

* * *

Yuki rested her head on Freddie's shoulder as they sat on the front porch, taking a break from training. Their eyes followed Solomon and Saya as they walked past them and down the driveway.

"I'm not sure, but I think that guy Solomon has a thing for my sister," Yuki whispered to her Chevalier.

"Yeah, and whatever that thing is, he's got it bad."

Yuki watched the expression on her _sister's _face. "She doesn't look to happy about it."

Freddie shook his head. "She acts like she's the one in an unfortunate situation, but it's that poor underdog who'll probably get his heart broken. I fear Haji has had too much of a head start, if only Solomon had met her sooner, things might be very different."

Yuki removed her head from his shoulder and looked up at him, head tilted inquisitively. "Hmm?"

"Never mind," Freddie said sweetly as he tenderly stroked her hair.

Yuki returned her head to his shoulder.

* * *

They both approached the railing at the edge of the canal. Saya leaned over it, putting her elbow on it and resting her chin on her hand. Solomon casually leaned his back up against it and glanced back toward the house to see if Haji had called his bluff.

But the only people on the porch were Freddie and Yuki, sitting with their backs to them.

Solomon gave a polite smile as he spoke. "I wanted to apologize for my actions the other night. I didn't realize how uncomfortable I had made you until I noticed that you have been avoiding me ever since."

Solomon took notice of her engagement ring as she nervously pushed a stray lock of hair out of her face.

_Hmm. Amshel often referred to Haji as "Saya's dog," how fitting of him to mark his territory._

_It looks like a garnet, such a cheap stone – Saya, I wonder if it has occurred to you that I could replace it with a diamond twice it's size and it would be nothing to me. True, I was fired from my position as CEO, but they couldn't take my decades of business experience away, so I was able to recover assets through some good investments – but you aren't the kind of woman that would be swayed by that sort of thing, are you? I suppose that is one of the many reasons why I love you. Still, what could Haji give you? What sort of home could a wandering street musician provide? You deserve better than an eternity of money problems._

The moonlight glinted off it the surface of the ring's jewel, some how daring him to defy it, but he knew that he shouldn't press his luck two nights in a row.

"Saya," he continued, "I think you know me well enough to know that I am not the sort of man who hides his feelings, however, I do want to apologize to you for allowing myself to be ruled by those feelings the other night. I know that you are in a relationship with Haji, and if you are truly happy with him, then I am happy for you, but your relationship with Haji does not change the way I feel about you. Just as my life will last an eternity, so too will my love for you."

She stared at him in disbelief. She knew from the transparency of his expression that it was not just empty romantic rhetoric, which somehow made it even harder to believe.

Naturally, he noticed the look on her face. "Is that so shocking?"

"I don't understand -why do you -" she said, in a stuttering whimper. "How can you be so-," she didn't know what to say, the word she kept coming up with was "sweet," but she knew that to accuse him of sweetness aloud could easily be interpreted as flirting.

"Saya, have you forgotten what I said all those years ago? Even if I am never rewarded, I will be your Chevalier. It is of my own accord, it is beyond blood…"

She felt her knees begin to collapse beneath her as reality quickly faded away.

It happened fairly often, where visions of the past would overcome her conscious mind, and occasionally, it would cause her to faint.

A psychologist would have called it Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a mental illness common in people who have lived through traumatic events, such as combat veterans and rape victims.

The flashbacks would sometimes seem to come out of nowhere, but were just as often triggered by something. Generally, they were just brief images of tragic moments in her life – the mansion engulfed in flames, with Diva in the foreground, Riku's crystallized body or Haji, lifeless at the foot of a cliff. It wasn't like just recalling an image, it was like she was seeing it, like it was real.

But sometimes it was worse, it would be a longer piece of time like the slaughter in Vietnam, or the final battle with Diva. It wasn't like just remembering what happened, it was like she was living it all over again.

It was a different moment this time, one that had caused her extreme guilt and pain like the others, somehow triggered as her lovesick Chevalier repeated what she had once believed to be some of his last words to her.

It had occurred at the MET, while Saya and Haji were on their way backstage.

…

"_Haji, do you think Solomon will show up to help us fight Diva?"_

_He lowered his eyes and said nothing._

"_Haji?"_

_Saya had spent so much time with him, she was able to read his silences to some extent. Something about his silence now gave her a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach._

"_Haji, what is it?"_

_He hesitated for several seconds. "I thought you knew," he said quietly._

"_Knew what?"_

_He hesitated again. "When he defended you against that Chevalier, I saw him get cut by your sword."_

_She gasped. "It had my blood on it," she murmured. "Then he must be -"_

_Saya couldn't bring herself to say it. She turned her back on Haji, and quietly choked back a sob._

_He waited several seconds before putting his hand on her shoulder._

"_I'm sorry, I thought you had seen it too."_

_She wiped away a tear that had just begun to form and mentally repeated her mantra one last time as turned to face him and spoke in a low, wavering voice._

"_It's alright." She drew in a trembling breath. "After tonight, no one will ever die because of me again." She forced a listless, lie of a smile. "It'll all be over soon. Please keep your promise."_

…

Suddenly, she felt something running down her throat, warming it like liquor.

Blood.

Her eyes fluttered open as Solomon held her limp body with one hand, and poured blood from the other into her mouth.

She virtually jumped out of his arms.

He simply smiled magnanimously as he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and used it to wipe away the drop of blood coming from the corner of her lips.

She could still taste it in her mouth.

There were elements in it that she could sense, subtle flavors that varied from person to person, tastes that didn't exist on the same plane as that of ordinary food. But Saya had been raised eating human food, so she always thought of blood in the same terms, likening it to conventional flavors.

This blood was sweet somehow, like Haji's, but still completely different. Haji's blood had a warm, spicy, ever so slightly sour aspect to it, that she had always likened to apples and cinnamon. But this was different, it had the same pleasing sweetness, but also notes of something quite bitter, something that would have been repulsive by itself, but combined with the sweetness, produced a potent combination, like that of chocolate.

"You fainted, have you been feeding properly?"

"It's not that."

He looked at his feet. "Did I really trouble you that much?" he asked, his voice heavy with genuine remorse, recalling a time in which ladies routinely fainted whenever they heard something extremely shocking or disturbing.

"It's not your fault."

"What's wrong?"

She said nothing.

He took a step toward her. "Saya, if something is troubling you, you can tell me about it – I am here for you."

She was silent for a moment before she spoke.

"You almost died because of me." She paused. "It's my fault you got hurt," she said quietly as she looked away.

She didn't know how he did it, but suddenly, he was standing even closer to her.

He put his hand on hers.

He gently wrapped his fingers around her wrist and lightly pulled her hand toward him. He tenderly pressed her palm to his scarred cheek, but high enough on his face that the tips of her fingers were immersed in the straight black hair on that side. He closed his eyes as he indulged in the warmth of her hand against his cheek.

"You know," he said with a smile, "I could have my hair dyed and styled to look like it did before, but I choose to leave it the way it is, to remind me of how far I am willing to go for you. As for the scars – I suppose they do mean I don't get leered by strangers at as much as I used to, but that is a good thing, since being stared at like that used to irritate me to no end, not to mention, there is only one woman who's gaze I care for." He opened his eyes and looked deep into hers. "Saya, you know I would do anything for you, and because of that, I wear these marks with pride."

The moment she seemed to muster up enough nerve to regain control of her hand, he turned his head slightly and placed a slow kiss on her palm before releasing her wrist.

Just as she was about to start feeling extremely uncomfortable, he turned to her and smiled.

"I suppose we should be getting back, I don't want to make Haji _too_ angry with me," he said, once again trying to subtly call attention to Haji's jealousy, despite it's being well justified.

He extended his elbow out to her, silently asking her to walk arm and arm with him.

Refusing this friendly gesture would be rude, but she also had a feeling that it wasn't the sort of thing she should encourage, especially after the other night.

She was in a complicated position, and she was giving herself no small amount of pity because of it. To accept Solomon's affections would be a betrayal of Haji, but if she out right shot him down she knew it would break his heart and she would risk him refusing to go through with their agreement, thus dooming herself to hibernation and childlessness.

Coy acceptance was her only option. She accepted his attentions because she had no choice, or at least this is what she told herself.

On some level, even she knew that it wasn't the whole truth. At it's core, the relationship wasn't _completely_ one sided. Anyone who had seen them waltz could tell you that much. But, if there was anything that Saya was better at than handling a sword, it was denial.

As for Solomon, her ambiguous reactions to his advances seemed to only fan the flame in his heart, creating an almost exhilarating suspense that made even the smallest bit of affection from her all the more tantalizing.

She placed her hand in the crook of his elbow, thus taking his arm without the intimacy of walking so close to him.

* * *

**Hāku'i **: to echo, reverberate; to flutter, palpitate (as in a heart).

I had a hard time making this chapter work, I was more than a little tempted to just throw it out and move on. I'm still not sure I succeeded with it, but I don't want to keep you all waiting too long.

The Chevalier stuff is my own personal theories.

Don't forget to review! I crave feedback and validation! (yes, I am pathetic and insecure)


	22. Never the Simple Answer

As Solomon and Saya neared the yellow house, both of them noticed the sound of bushes rustling violently, branches breaking, feet stamping, coupled with the distinctive high pitch squeal of a chiropteran making use of it's super-human speed. They both quickly ran into the house only to find that almost everyone had retired to their rooms for the night, and Haji was still calmly thumbing through his sheet music. No one seemed to notice the sounds of battle coming from the backyard.

"Haji! Sword! There's something going on outside," Saya immediately barked.

Haji obeyed his order without question, and Saya dashed out the backdoor, with Solomon close behind. Haji followed at a strangely unhurried pace.

When they reached the back door, Saya's mouth dropped wide open.

"I believe they are just training," Haji stated.

Yuki was standing nearby on the lawn, wearing a tank top and a pair of yoga pants with a full quiver of plastic fletched, carbon arrows at her waist, in her hand a modern recurve bow. Being designed for hunters and sportsmen, it was an ugly weapon compared to the elegant simplicity of the traditional Japanese bow she had used previously, which had been left behind in favor of her new weapon, mainly because a modern bow was a little more portable and practical in terms of the battle she would soon be participating in.

She had apparently learned how to shoot Olympic-style, drawing the string to her face and anchoring it against her lips. Other than it's involving a bow and arrow, it was nothing like the slow, graceful movements of Kyudo – she was shooting, then knocking the next arrow at an inhuman speed.

Several arrows were fisted in her right hand along with the bow, thus each time she released, her next arrow was already at her fingertips, instead of in her quiver. She was also utilizing her abilities as a chiropteran, her movements so quick that her right hand appeared to be a pale blue blur.

This was not that surprising to anyone. What was really surprising was her target.  
Freddie.

Her Chevalier energetically zoomed to and fro at the other end of the yard, through bushes and up into trees, using his own superior speed to duck, dodge and occasionally, jump clear over the arrows flying at him. However, it was clear that his speedy evasions were not always successful, there was more than one arrow lodged in his body.

Solomon arched a brow. _Perhaps she has retained something of her past, only someone raised as royalty could have the audacity to use her own Chevalier for target practice. Though, come to think of it, I wouldn't have put it past Diva._

Yuki didn't stop shooting until she ran out of ammunition and finally noticed the people standing behind her.

Saya was rendered speechless for a moment before speaking. "What are you doing?!"

"Target practice, what does it look like?" Yuki replied frankly.

"On Freddie?" Saya asked incredulously.

Yuki noticed the shocked tone in her _sister's_ voice. "What?" she exclaimed. "I get to practice shooting at fast moving targets and Freddie gets to practice dodging – its win-win. Besides, he's a Chevalier, it's not like I can actually hurt him! You train with Haji, I don't see how this is any different!"

"Yeah, but when I spar with Haji, I don't actually wound him!"

"Maybe you need to practice harder then," Yuki said snidely, in such a way that it was difficult to tell if she was being playfully sarcastic, or genuinely conceited.

Freddie approached, pulling the last arrow from his abdomen as walked toward them from across the lawn, and leaving a spotty trail of blood behind him.

"I think you got me in the lung," he said, his voice oddly muffled, as if someone was sitting on his chest. He then suddenly bent over and began to cough, ejecting a mouthful of blood onto the ground. "Nice shot!" he commended proudly, his throat now cleared.

"See Saya!" she said, almost haughtily. "He doesn't have a problem with it!"

"Her wish is my command, eh Solomon and Haji?" Freddie said, followed by a laugh that quickly turned into another piteous bloody cough.

Yuki giggled. "C'mon sweetheart, you go get a drink, I'm gonna go take a shower."

Freddie grinned and followed obediently, leaving Saya, Haji and Solomon on the back porch.

"Saya's still _thinks_ she's my damn mother!" Yuki whined to her Chevalier as they walked, speaking loud enough so the three people on the porch could hear quite clearly.

Solomon couldn't help but give a noticeable chortle at the irony of Yuki's complaint.

Saya glared at him briefly, clearly not amused and as she was known to do, taking herself a little too seriously.

"I'm going to bed," she huffed as she and Haji walked inside.

Just as he was about to head in himself, Solomon caught an odd scent on the breeze.

"Hmm," he furrowed his brows as he tried to recall where knew that smell from.

_It's blood, but who's? _he thought.

_No – it couldn't be._

He began to search for the source of the familiar scent and spent several minutes pacing about the yard before he traced it to a small pool of blood on the ground.

He descended to his knees and touched it gingerly before rubbing it between his fingers briefly.

Solomon's eyes widened and then narrowed.

He shook his head as he spoke softly to himself. "And I was starting to think I had seen the last of you."

A teasing, effeminate voice came from behind him. "You should be so lucky!"

Solomon turned to face his older brother, only to see that Nathan Mahler's voice seemed to be coming out of Freddie Gardener's mouth.

"What have you done with Freddie?"

He was answered with a loud laugh which gradually faded from the high pitched tones of Nathan to the more masculine air of Freddie Gardener.

"I am Freddie, you idiot. I always have been," he stated proudly, still laughing a little.

Solomon stared at him in shock. "So Freddie doesn't really exist then?"

"Of course he exists! He's standing right here!" He gestured to himself. "Think about it. Other than appearance, voice and a few mannerisms, is Freddie Gardener fundamentally that different from Nathan Mahler?"

Solomon took this as a rhetorical question. _I suppose Freddie did strike me as being outgoing and having an odd sense of humor, but still..._

"Are you sure you didn't just kill and replace the poor boy?"

The elder Chevalier laughed again. "Nope. Come now, you know how easy it is to create a new identity, you're passport says 'Solomon Goldsmith V!' Every few decades, you avoid suspicion about your age by claiming to be your own son!"

"That is true," Solomon then steered the conversation back to it's original subject. "Nathan, it has been a while since I have known you to be deceptive and manipulative, but this time, you have really outdone yourself. I can't say I approve of you lying to everyone."

"Lying is such a harsh term. I prefer to think of it as acting – really the hardest part is feigning ignorance, though I must admit I am getting some genuine benefit out of my flying lessons, I've never really bothered practicing the whole back-wings thing."

"You are manipulating everyone," Solomon said accusively.

"You make it sound so Machiavellian!" he laughed. "But yes, I suppose I am."

Solomon looked away, his indignance just barely showing through his serene features.

"You're thinking of exposing me, aren't you?"

"What you are doing is wrong."

"What makes you think that you know what I'm doing?" the ancient Chevalier said darkly. "Ah Solomon, so impatient, so short-sighted, immortal and yet immature. I've said it before and I'll say it again – you have a lot of growing up to do," he paused, and his tone suddenly became more casual. "You know, if you see fit to blab about my secrets, I just might return the favor."

"Are you actually trying to blackmail me?" Solomon asked skeptically.

"You say it as if you have nothing to hide! Well, I suppose I could tell Haji that you kissed his fiancée, the fact that I saw it must tell you how close you were to getting caught. If I was him, I would kick your ass, truce or no truce." He paused. "But then again, tattling on you for _that_ would be altogether too easy – and also – how did you put it? Oh yes, 'childish and manipulative."

He put his fist lightly to his chin. "Hmm. You know, if Saya had slapped you last night, she would have been completely within her rights, but the fact that she didn't makes me think that you are finally making some progress with her. I guess that would be partially because you aren't acting like as much of an overconfident dick as you used to, but back then, who could have blamed you? As the pretty-boy CEO of a multi-billion dollar company, you must have been accustomed to beating women off with a stick, eh?" He paused again. "But I think the main reason you are making progress with her is because she now sees you as a good guy." He grinned evilly. "She clearly doesn't know much about your past."

Solomon's eyes narrowed as his brother continued. "You spent the better part of a century doing evil in the name of Diva, if I told her about any one of your many crimes against humanity, I'm sure she would rethink, if not abandon her new found good opinion of you." He reassumed his thinker pose. "Perhaps, something she probably already has an inkling of – as the then CEO of Cinque Fleches, ultimately, it was you behind the development of Delta 67 and Van's nasty experiments were all done with your approval, including the ones that turned all those poor Vietnamese children into monsters as well as resulted in the death of Saya's beloved foster father." He paused to think once more. "I suppose she may have already realized that, but I can think of one thing she definitely doesn't know– I could tell her about how you were involved in our Vietnam operations in_ '72_."

Solomon's eyes widened. "I didn't think you knew about that."

"Oh yes, I am quite familiar with it. Amshel saw Vietnam's civil war as nothing more than a stage on which to display his latest chiropteran product for the Americans, you were placed in charge of the operation. You made Karl do all the dirty work while you stayed in Paris to make sure that the peace talks went nowhere by keeping the focus on petty formalities. At one point, you became aware that the Red Shield was making some progress at convincing the US to side with them, so you and Amshel came up with a rather interesting plan to pit the US and the Red Shield against each other. He knew from experiments with Diva, that if Saya were to be forcibly brought out of hibernation, she would kill anything that moved, so you had Karl bait the Shield into doing just that. It was your hope that Saya would go nuts on a bunch of US soldiers, making the Red Shield look bad, and almost certainly destroying their relations with the US military, thus enabling Amshel's master plan to continue." The elder Chevalier paused. "From what I understand, she is tormented by her guilt from that incident to this day – I'd bet she would welcome the opportunity to blame someone else for it – and I know she would have a very hard time forgiving you for your involvement."

"That's enough, Nathan. You can tell her all about that if you like, I intended to talk to her about that myself, one day." Solomon turned and looked him squarely in the eye. "I believe that _my_ Queen deserves to know the truth about me."

The ancient chevalier turned his head slightly and rubbed his cheek melodramatically, as if he had been slapped. "Oooh! That one stung a little!" His tone suddenly became more serious. "Solomon, look. Twice, Amshel bid you kill your own brother, and both times, you bitched and whined, but still did it without hesitation, just because Amshel asked you. Now all _I_ am asking you to do is keep a secret. Is that so much to ask?"

"Why do you believe all this deception to be necessary?"

"Well, I would imagine that the twins are still mad at me for what I did to Dave – how was I supposed to know that he would be a self-righteous idiot and turn down immortality, I was trying to do the boy a favor!" the elder chevalier exclaimed before letting out a sigh. "If I came around in my old form, the girls would probably try to start something, and that's a bit of drama I wish to avoid."

Solomon chuckled briefly. "_You_ want to avoid drama?"

His elder brother smirked. "In this particular case, yes. I would rather not have to fight my precious little dears, however, it is necessary for me to be around since it is my eternal duty to protect Yuki. At first it sufficed for me to just hang around her neighborhood and keep an eye out for trouble, while keeping an ear on the American military, but when I found out that they were planning to attack the Miyagusuku household, I came by as soon as I could, I figured Haji and Saya could handle it, but I wanted to be there just in case something went wrong and sure enough, Yuki lost it, and being in a state of pure instinct, she immediately moved to feed on her Chevalier – me. What happened after that – well lets just say I like to improvise every now and then, and it turned out very, very favorably. She now believes me to be her Chevalier, and that is exactly what I am – she's just mistaken about the circumstances."

"Well, I suppose it wouldn't be the first time you faked the transformation, you managed to make Diva and everyone else believe that you were her Chevalier." Solomon thought for a moment. "If you wanted to take care of Yuki, then why didn't you just take her with you after you resurrected her?"

The ancient Chevalier sighed deeply. "There is a reason for that too," he said, his voice uncharacteristically melancholy.

"And what is that?"

He sighed again. "Solomon, you are familiar with Saya's past, are you not?"

"Yes, reasonably."

"Then you know that during her last active phase, she had a great deal of pain, guilt and regret to deal with, but Solomon, overall it was not her faithful Chevalier that got her through it – it was her human family. The Miyagusuku's support did her an immense amount of good, and it is my hope that they will work this magic on Yuki as well, because when she regains her memories, she will have a lot to come to terms with."

"You're talking about Diva, aren't you?"

"Partially, but the thing I am more worried about is what will happen when Yuki remembers the circumstances of her own death."

"And what were those?"

"To be honest, I am not sure, since I was cut off from her during her last several months. However, I do know one thing – her life was ended by her own hand." The ancient Chevalier sniffed and wiped away a tear.

"What could be so terrible that it would make a pregnant woman commit suicide?" Solomon wondered aloud.

"I don't know!" the elder brother snapped, his eyes briefly flashing red before he paused to collect himself. "But I do know this – I will do everything I possibly can to give her a life that she will deem worth living, and you had best stay out of my way."

"That's why you are manipulating everyone?"

"Yuki is not the only one who will benefit from my actions, what I do is for the good of us all and _eventually_, it will all be clear to you. If you can just trust my judgement, I guarantee you that one day you will thank me from the bottom of your heart."

Solomon gave the closest thing to a glare that his soft features could muster and actually raised his voice. "How can you be so arrogant?"

"Now that is quite an accusation coming from _you!"_ the older brother laughed. "Now let me tell you something – I am not arrogant, I just know what's best for everybody. When you have accumulated over nine thousand years worth of life experience, you may know what's best for everybody too." His voice suddenly changed to a fierce, distorted, demonic growl. "Now listen here you ignorant ass, everything I have done, and everything I am doing is for the good of our clan, do you understand me?"

Solomon stared back, unflinchingly.

"And that includes Saya," he continued. "I promise you that Saya will be much better off, when all is said and done."

Solomon considered this carefully. "You swear it?"

"Yes."

"On the life of your Queen?"

The ancient Chevalier only hesitated for a moment. "Yes."

"Very well," Solomon reluctantly stated, "I will keep your secret."

"Good boy."

"However, the moment your actions seem to possibly pose the slightest threat to Saya or any of her loved ones, I will not hesitate to expose you."

"Fair enough," the elder brother said smugly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must attend to my Queen."

_Freddie_ took a few steps back towards the house.

"You love her, don't you?" Solomon asked, his curiosity having got the best of him.

"More than anything," the ancient Chevalier said without a moment's hesitation.

"But you actually love her – love her, not just as your Queen."

"You sounded quite surprised when you said that," he laughed. "Pulled a _Bowie_ on you did I? You thought I was a homosexual!"

Solomon gave a slight chortle. "You surely gave every indication of it."

The elder Chevalier laughed heartily. "Solomon, Solomon, Solomon – over a hundred years old and still so naïve! A person's manner of speaking and dress indicating their sexual preferences – what kind of idiotic logic is that?"

"Then why were you always flirting with James and Haji?"

"Come now, you know I like to tease people, and both of them were so uptight and romantically single minded – getting hit on by the likes of me just drove them crazy!" he paused. "Though I cant say it was entirely an act – such a cute ass on both those boys!" He giggled for a moment before leaning towards Solomon and whispering in his ear. "Oh, and in case your wondering – I have dabbled every now an then, if you catch my drift – you don't live as long as I have with out developing an _open mind_." He smirked suggestively before taking a step back. "Unfortunately for you – you're not my type! You're too blonde for me, I've always had a thing for the tall, dark and exotic."

_I suppose that could be a description of Yuki – James and Haji too, for that matter._

Solomon laughed. "Ah, Nathan, I see you haven't changed."

The ancient chevalier suddenly glared at his younger brother. "Are you learning impaired? My name isn't Nathan, it's Freddie."

Solomon rolled his eyes. "Well, there's no one around, so I don't see why I shouldn't call you by your real name."

The elder chevalier laughed derisively at Solomon. "You think _Nathan_ is my _real_ name? Hah! I change persona at least every century, believe me, I've played the field – men, women, white, black, red, yellow, brown, and every color in between, I've _been_ them all. Your still young so I don't expect you would understand yet, but I find that the best way to stave off the tedium of immortality is to periodically take on a new life. It gives existence a renewed zest. Anyway, I would love to tell you my life story, or saga rather, but I should be heading in if I wish to catch my beloved during that brief yet opportune few minutes between when she gets in bed and goes to sleep," he said with a wink. "Oh, and once again, don't mess things up with Saya. You would be amazed at how much joy women get from new grandchildren, I'm sure it will be the same with Yuki."

He began walking back toward the house, when Solomon posed one final question.

"If you love Yuki so much, why don't you at least tell _her _who you really are?"

The disguised Chevalier turned around and smirked. "I'm shy," he said innocently before disappearing into the house.

Solomon shook his head.

_Never the simple answer._

* * *

Did I mention that I have a thing for twists?


	23. A Chevalier's Place

Just as the leeward beaches of Oahu have their romantic sunsets, the beaches on the windward side have their lonely sunrises.

Haji headed out during the predawn twilight carrying his beloved instrument with him, and scanned the area for a suitable place to sit.

An abandoned folding lawn chair would do.

He uncased his instrument and began tuning, something that in his youth had required the assistance of a piano or pitch fork, but he had long since developed the impressive skill of doing it by ear.

He didn't bother with any warm up exercises, he simply proceeded to play and with even more passion than usual. He was venting through his instrument, trying to banish this frustration that bordered on bitterness…

It would be an understatement to say that Haji had never liked that man.

His hatred wasn't due to Solomon's feelings for Saya.

No, it was the other way around.

It was Saya's feelings for Solomon. Haji was no fool, he knew there was something there. He had always known.

Unknown to Saya, Haji had actually happened to see her dance in Lycee. It hadn't been intentional though, Haji was tracking the Phantom, and finally discovered him by a window, spying on Saya. The voyeur immediately sensed his presence and ran off, and as Haji moved to follow, he glanced into the ballroom himself. There was no way he couldn't notice his beloved friend dancing. This in itself wouldn't have really bothered him, initially was actually so captivated by the sight of his love waltzing, he forgot all about the Phantom. Seeing her dance brought back fond memories.

He only felt the freezing sting of jealousy when her smiles and blushes betrayed just how much she was enjoying the company of her handsome blonde partner, and how she had just stood there staring at him when the music stopped, clearly in no hurry to leave his arms.

His playing sped up and increased in intensity as he recalled that evening, several decades before, even though it wasn't what was really bothering him.

The thing he had witnessed the other night was weighing heavily on him.

He actually hadn't seen the kiss, nor did he know that it happened.

As he and Freddie flew, he couldn't help but hear that Saya was laughing, and not just any laugh, she was in hysterics.

He glanced down and wondered what Yuki had said that was so funny, only to see that Saya was now sitting with Solomon.

In truth, seeing the kiss would have probably bothered him less, after all, she would eventually have to sleep with the man, and physical intimacy shouldn't have to happen all at once.

That laugh he had heard was so sincere.

The very notion that Solomon might make her happier than he did was eating away at whatever romantic self-confidence he had gained in the last few months.

It was a truly wounding thought.

He frowned fiercely as he played.

_How could he truly make her happy? He barely knows her. How would he now that she likes to put her sword to the right of her bed when she sleeps? How would he know that if she has a particular craving for protein (especially eggs), it's an early warning that she hasn't fed enough? How would he know to always keep a handkerchief (not paper tissue, she doesn't like those) in his right pocket, because when she cries, she expects it to be there? How would he know that she likes to drink a glass of warm water while getting a transfusion? How would he know that when she is upset and says that she want's to be alone, she actually means it?_

_He could never even take care of her, much less make her truly happy._

A string snapped, startling him briefly.

He sat motionless for a moment.

His mind was instantly brought back to an afternoon at the zoo when a similar thing had happened to Saya, just as she was suffering from a fit of resentful envy at his superior musicianship.

His eyes fell shut and he glared at nothing but himself as he realized the parallels between these two incidents.

He had always suspected that his instrument had a personality of it's own, and it seemed fairly clear now that this cello did not like being in the hands of a musician suffering from an attack of bitterness and jealousy.

He came to a realization as he pulled out a spare string from the case.

_It is not my place, either as her Chevalier or as her fiancée, to decide what will make her happy. _

He came to a resolution as he began the process of replacing the broken one.

_It is not enough for me to simply accept her decisions, I must also honor her feelings, regardless of my own. To accept her decisions is nothing more than my obligation as her Chevalier, to honor her feelings shall be my choice as someone who loves her._

* * *

The entire group was assembled in the living room, the elder members, such as David, Lewis, Julia having been given the choice seats on the couch, Mao, Dave and Joel sitting on some chairs that had been dragged in from the dining room, Saya, Yuki, Ruka and Akahana either sitting or kneeling on the floor, and the Chevaliers, Solomon, Haji and Freddie standing in the back. Kai stood at the head of the group as he briefed them on what was to come.

Freddie gave an amused snort. "A surprise attack from the air on a US facility in Hawaii – now where have I heard that before?" he said with a snide grin.

"Shut up!" Mao shouted irritably.

"Yes, that really isn't funny," the elder David added sternly.

"I didn't say it was," Freddie said innocently. "Just making an observation."

"Back to business," Kai declared. "So, because of the a.d. towers and auto machine guns, this is going to be a -" Kai paused to swallow his pride, "chiropteran only excursion. I will be acting as head of ground support, but we still need someone to lead the _away team._ Since only one of you has actually been to the island before, I suggest Solomon."

"_Me_?" Solomon blurted in surprise.

"Is that a problem for you?"

"Well, no." Solomon paused. "It's just that, at one time, if someone had told me I would someday be leading a Red Shield strike team, I would have thought them to have a very strange sense of humor."

"Don't remind us," muttered David.

"Alright, that's settled." Kai declared. "So, do you think you can infiltrate the facility again?"

Solomon thought for a moment. "Yes. I did get caught last time, but it was due to a careless mistake that I will not make again."

"See that you don't," Dave muttered in the same humorless tone as his father.

"So," Kai continued, "at the moment, the plan is for you to take off ahead of everybody else and sneak in like you did before. Once inside, use the GPS tracker to beep us. Once we receive the signal, the rest of the away team will take off, and then you'll open the front door from the inside. Can you do it?"

"I will not fail you," Solomon said as he glanced toward Saya.

"Kay. So, once the rest of the team arrives, all you have to do is head down a few hallways until you get to the control room and then blow those assholes all to hell."

"Why do I get the feeling that it won't be that easy?" said Joel.

"It wont," Kai retorted, "there'll probably be at least several dozen corpse corps units between the door and the control room, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem – everyone on the away team is a corpse corps killing expert, except for Freddie and Yuki, and with all the training they've been doing, I'm sure they'll do fine."

Yuki smiled at this declaration of good faith.

"Still," Kai continued, his voice becoming gravely serious, "this will be an extremely dangerous mission, but the real danger wont come from the corpse corps, it will come from each other."

Saya furrowed her brows. "What do you mean?"

"Julia, you want to take that one?"

Julia stood and began to speak. "Saya, some years ago, we did some tests in which we mixed samples your blood with that of Ruka and Akahana. Each time it resulted in crystallization, it seems that the twins inherited this trait from their mother. In addition to their blood being deadly to each other, their blood is also deadly to you, as yours is to them."

Ruka's face wrinkled in disapproval of the warning. "It's not like were going to be stabbing each other with our blood though."

"Yes, but you must keep in mind that the corpse corps use bladed weapons too. For example, lets just say a corpse corps unit wounded Akahana and then wounded Haji while her blood was still on the blade – it would almost certainly be deadly to Haji. I know that is not a cheerful thought, it's just a worst case scenario, but it is something you will have to be very mindful of."

The room was deathly silent when Saya spoke. "So my blood is poisonous to the twins and Solomon, and their blood is poisonous to Haji and I?"

"Yes."

"What about me?" asked Yuki.

"Well, we have done some tests with your blood, and so far, it appears to be inert. However, you and Freddie will be using arrows tipped with Saya's blood, so you will have to be very careful not to accidentally hit Solomon or either of the twins."

Yuki nodded and Freddie spoke. "Don't worry about that. Even when we don't hit the bull's eye, rarely miss a target completely, let alone hit something we didn't mean to."

"Let us hope so," muttered Dave.

Freddie glared at him. "Oh gee thanks for the vote of confidence."

Kai moved to change the subject. "So," he said with an attention-grabbing clap. "The island hop to Maui leaves at 7:00 am, so I want everyone up and ready to go by 4:00 sharp!"

Everyone in the group expressed at least some degree of displeasure at this thought, except of course, for the Chevaliers.

* * *

A full day had passed, and the entire group was assembled on a bit of barren rocky coastline at Makena, just south of Kihei, directly across the channel from Kaho'olawe.

A strong breeze was blowing from the sea, causing a few clouds to roll in across the night sky.

Lewis and Joel were inside the van, fiddling with equipment, Dave, David and Kai hovered over a laptop and Mao, having no practical reason to be there, sat on a folding chair reading, the twins talked quietly amongst themselves, Freddie waxed his bowstrings, and Yuki preened the fletching of some of her arrows.

Saya took it into her head to do some warm up exercises, and began sparring with the air, her sword slashing violently through the night sky, cycling through all the moves she could think of as her two Chevaliers watched quietly. She raised the weapon above her, as if about to behead someone, when the windy weather combined with her erratic movements caused the bun in her hair to come undone. It seemed that all the hairpins in the world couldn't cold the cantaloupe-sized chignon together under such conditions.

The wind immediately proceeded to blow the majority of her knee-length hair into her face.

"Pffft! Pffft! Pffft!"

She dropped her sword and cleared the locks away from her eyes and mouth before groaning loudly.

"Haji, cut my hair!" she ordered in frustration.

"Saya, are you sure?"

"My hair keeps getting in my face, please cut it," she requested impatiently.

By then, most of the party had focused their attention on her.

"What's the big deal?" Ruka said casually, "she could grow it back in like, five seconds, if she wanted to."

Haji stood behind Saya, and pulled out one of his many mysteriously concealed daggers.

"Wait!" Mao interceded. "I think I have some sewing scissors in my purse!"

"Shhh!" Freddie whispered forcefully. "It's much more dramatic with the dagger!"

"How short?" Haji asked softly as he polished the blade on the breast of his suit.

"Short–short, like what you did in Russia."

He nodded as he gently grabbed a lock of hair and began to saw through it.

Both Saya and Haji maintained an absolutely serious expression as the massive clumps of hair fell to the ground. He completed his mission in under a minute.

Saya patted her own head, examining her new fashion. The crude cutting tool had produced nearly the same, choppy style as she had worn early in the early part of the last two centuries.

Freddie walked over to critique Haji's work. "Damn! Not bad! Next time I need a haircut, I'm calling you, Sensei!"

Saya continued to pat her head. "It's funny, I can still almost feel it there."

Freddie put his fist to his chin. "I guess you would call that 'Phantom Hair Syndrome!" he said. As most of the group briefly laughed at his assertion, Solomon discretely slipped one of the discarded locks into his pocket.

"Oh hey! I almost forgot!" Aka exclaimed to her sister.

"Yeah," Ruka said, apparently knowing what her twin was referring to. "Saya, Yuki, we have a present for you."

Aka pulled out a pair of white cardboard boxes, and handed one to Saya and one to Yuki.

"Open it!" the twins demanded in unison.

Saya removed the lid of her box, and pulled out the garment, folded inside.

She smiled. "Oh! It's perfect!" she declared as she unfurled a dark, plum-mauve full-length vinyl trench coat, identical in design to the ones Aka and Ruka were wearing.

Yuki concurrently pulled out a white colored version.

"Kai said you liked pink," Aka said to Saya.

"We weren't sure what color you liked, Yuki, so we got you a white one, to match your name," Ruka said to Yuki.

"OH MY GOD!" Mao gushed. "You all match! That is so adorable!" She paused briefly. "KAI!"

"What?"

"Take a picture of the girls."

He did as his wife had ordered, and whipped out the camera.

The girls stood together, shoulder to shoulder in a row, Aka and Ruka in the center, Saya on the left, and Yuki on the right.

"Smile!" he shouted as the flash nearly blinded them.

"Okay! Okay, lets get the whole away team in there! Haji! Solomon! Freddie! Get your butts over here!"

The three Chevaliers quickly realized what was being asked of them, and placed themselves in view of the camera, Freddie beside Yuki, and Haji beside Saya.

Solomon seemed to be the only one that didn't immediately know where he belonged. After a moment of thought, he stood beside Haji, realizing that this was the closest he was going to get to Saya.

"Smile!"

Saya glanced at her stoic fiancée, and elbowed him playfully, raising her eyebrows, silently reiterating Kai's request for a smile. He mustered a subtle grin.

"Alright! Cool! Now do a pose with your weapons!" Mao ordered enthusiastically as they once again recovered from the flash.

After a moment of hesitation, the members of the away team moved to do as they were told. Aka and Ruka held swords so the blades were pointing back over their shoulders, crossing to form an x, as they stood back to back, making themselves appear to simply be a reflection of the other, as they had done in many previous photographs. Freddie and Yuki pulled out their bows, Freddie holding his weapon above his head, as if he were raising it to the sky in victory, while Yuki knocked an arrow and rested her bow on her foot, as an archer does when not shooting. Saya pulled her sword from its scabbard and held it firmly in front of her, as if preparing to battle an enemy. Haji pulled out a dagger and held it menacingly across his chest.

The Chevalier on the far left wasn't sure how to proceed.

"Don't hold out on us Solomon!"

He gave a slight sigh of resignation as his right hand became a blade and he pointed it at the ground.

"Alright! Now show me your war faces!" Kai said from behind the camera.

The motionless Chiropterans did as they were asked, some looking more intimidating than others.

"Awesome! That one's going the family album!"

The subjects of the photograph broke rank and went back to doing whatever they had been doing.

Solomon glanced at his watch and turned to Kai.

"I should probably get going."

"Yeah, just about that time."

Solomon casually walked behind one of the dark-colored vans, immerging in full Chiropteran form a few seconds later, his clothes neatly folded on the ground.

Saya caught sight of the grotesquely muscular tawny-gray monster and jumped. Her hand instinctively shot out to the side, in a silent signal that she required her sword only to relax a second later, as she looked at the ground.

In his whole long life, Solomon had never been ashamed of his true form until that moment.

"See you in a few, Ojisan!" the twins shouted as he prepared to take off.

Saya forced herself to look at him. "Be careful," she said quietly.

"I will," he said, the melodic tones of his voice just barely audible through the distorted growl.

He appeared to vanish in a blue streak, only to reappear in the sky above, flying over the sea towards the small island in the distance.

"I brought something for you girls, while we wait," Kai announced as he tossed a bundle to Saya. Yuki and the twins came over to investigate. Saya removed the bandana that served as the outer wrapping, to reveal a large plastic bag, with a message crudely written on it.

Saya's eyes watered as she read it.

"Do your best."

Ruka snatched the bundle away while Saya smiled tearfully at Kai.

"Spam onigiri!"

"Thanks Kai!"

"Can't you please call me dad? Just once?"

"Whatever Kai," the twins said in unison.

All four girls reached in the bag to grab a piece.

"I always miss this stuff when we're traveling!"

"Yeah, that's one reason why Hawaii isn't such a bad place to be sent on a long mission – seems to be the only place other than Okinawa where they have Spam onigiri everywhere!" Aka explained to Saya and Yuki.

"Yeah, we nearly went nuts trying to find this stuff in Nevada!" Ruka exclaimed.

"Why were you in Nevada?" Saya asked.

"Guess what they do at 'Area 51!" Ruka groaned as she rolled her eyes.

"Not anymore though!" Aka declared proudly.

Between the four hungry Queens, the huge bag of snacks disappeared quickly.

Over the next half-hour, the mood became considerably more intense. Battle was nearing, and they could all feel it.

Saya, having temporarily removed her new coat, walked over to the rocky cliff's edge, the wind whipping through her hair as she gazed out at the sea. She sensed Haji behind her.

"Haji, do you think it will ever really be over?" She paused. "I mean, I always believed that all this would end after I killed Diva, but here we are, getting ready for another mission to save the world from being over run by chiropterans. Will it ever really be over?"

"I do not know," he answered truthfully. "I have seen enough of the past to know that the future is impossible to predict."

She lowered her head.

"There will always be battles for us," he continued, "everyone has their own battles they must face, it is a natural part of being alive."

This idea might have been depressing to most people, but the idea that she was no different from anyone else was somewhat comforting to Saya.

"Saya, as long as I live, you will never have to face any battle alone."

The clouds parted to reveal the moon, and she gazed up at the silver disc. Just as Haji moved to embrace her, a loud beeping noise came from one of the vans.

"That was quick," Joel commented as he immerged from the vehicle and nodded at Kai.

"It's time," Kai announced.

The twins smiled almost mischievously as they turned to each other.

"Zip me!" Ruka shouted with all the ferocity of a battle cry. Her sister approached her back and pulled on a pair of zippers concealed in the seams of Ruka's coat, creating two parallel, vertical slits in the back of the garment.

"Zip me!" Aka shouted in exactly the same manner as Ruka returned the favor.

What happened next made Saya's jaw drop.  
In the blink of an eye, both girls produced a pair of enormous bat-like wings from the slits in their coats, Ruka's a shade of khaki green, Aka's a deep, rusty brown.

Saya watched in astonishment as the two girls slowly flapped and stretched their wings like a pair of newborn butterflies.

"Y-you have wings?!"

"Of course we do!" Ruka exclaimed.

"Yeah, what did you think a full blooded chiropteran Queen can't do everything a Chevalier can? What sense would that make?" said Aka. "Chiroptera means _hand wing_."

"We could teach you, if you want," Ruka offered.

"I think you'd better not," Freddie butted in. "If she could fly herself, then Haji would loose his precious opportunities to feel her up!"

Yuki and the twins giggled as Saya blushed, and Haji actually struggled to maintain his usual serious expression.

Kai walked over. "You guys ready to go?"

"Just a sec," said Ruka, as she pulled the scrunchie from her pony tale and put it around her wrist. "I like to feel the wind in my hair," she explained.

At the same time, Akahana kicked off her boots, and then tucked them into the black leather belt around her waist.

"Why'd you take off your shoes? Isn't it time to go?" Yuki asked curiously.

"Have you ever felt the wind between your toes? It's awesome!" Akahana declared as she spread her wings.

* * *

Reviews are love!


	24. Raison D'Etre

This chapter is easily the most violent and possibly the most potentially disturbing in the whole story. Fairly warned be ye...

* * *

It was considerably past sunset, so most of the tourists had gone. Two old men sat in folding lawn chairs on Makena beach, talking, drinking beer and munching on pretzels and homemade, self-caught ahi poke, as had been their Saturday night ritual for the past few decades.

"Eh, d'you see dat?"

"See what?"

"Dem weird hang glider, shape like batwing."

"No one hang glides 'round here, and what idiot would do it at night?"

"Nah, it true, I wen see dem, dey wen fly makai (seaward)."

"Okay Billy, dat's it. Give me your keys."

* * *

The moon seemed strangely low in the sky, it's reflection creating what looked almost like a glowing silver pathway leading the six comrades across the channel and to the island where things would finally be settled.

They flew in diagonal line with no more than a few feet between wing tips, Haji carrying Saya at the head of the formation, followed closely by Akahana, Ruka, and Freddie carrying Yuki at the back.

"He he he, Freddie, we're the caboose!" Yuki giggled as they flew over the Eastern Shore of the small 'abandoned' island.

They flew over the tallest point of the island, Aka and Ruka both dipping down slightly, showing off by briefly stepping on the tip of the peak.

Not more than a few seconds later, Saya furrowed her brows as she caught sight of something odd, a bit of firefly-like light flying towards them.

"What's that?!" she had to scream in order to be heard over the roar of the wind. Haji's grip on her tightened considerably as he took evasive action in order to avoid the white-hot projectile.

"It's the air defense tower, so much for the element of surprise!" Freddie shouted.

"No worries, I got this one," Ruka yelled as tucked her wings back like a falcon as it dives for its prey, her rapid loss of altitude far to fast to be caused by gravity alone. She drew her sword as she swooped down at the cluster of machinery that the glowing rounds were coming from and sliced through it with a deep, masculine grunt.

"Damn! Left a little nick in my blade!" she whined as she rejoined her comrades.

The helicopter landing pad came into view, and the winged chiropterans began their decent.

Even Freddie managed to make a graceful landing.

"Are you nervous about your first battle?" Freddie asked his Queen as he carefully placed her on the ground.

"No," she answered solemnly as she undid the top button of her trench coat, and pulled her left arm out of it's sleeve before tucking it inside the coat to keep it out of her way when shooting. "For some reason, I don't feel like it's my first time being in a battle."

Freddie arched a brow and smirked as he removed his brown leather jacket and tossed it aside.

Saya wrapped her hand around the blade of her sword and squeezed the blood from her palm into Yuki and Freddie's quivers, allowing it to run down the inside of the leather tubes and collect at the bottom, where the points of the arrows rested.

"The door's not open, and we're already running late," Aka said, sounding more than a little concerned.

"Do you think something happened to him?" Ruka said in the same tone of voice.

As soon as the last word left her lips, a low, groaning alarm sounded as a red light above the door began to flash.

A crack appeared at the bottom of the door and the warriors scrambled to ready themselves as it gradually widened.

Saya began to fret about what her nieces had said as some corpse corps jackboots came into view.

_Why did he send us the signal to take off fifteen minutes ago if he didn't have the door open yet? Something must have happened…_

Her eyes closed as she held her blade at the ready. _I can't think about that now, there are things I must do, people I must protect._

By the time her eyelids snapped open to reveal fiery red eyes, the door was completely open, revealing one lone corpse corps.

_He's not here. No_… she thought as she reflexively swung her sword at the chiropteran in front of her, only to have him block the stroke just as easily as he had done in Bordeaux, several decades earlier.

Solomon chuckled as the majority of his face melted into his true appearance.

"Solomon!" Saya squeaked. "I'm sorry! I didn't -"

"There is no need for that, it's my own fault for not announcing my presence."

"You just _had_ to make a dramatic entrance!" Freddie teased.

Solomon ignored him. "Sorry I'm late, but I thought I would do some _house cleaning_ in preparation for your arrival." He gestured to a scene of carnage behind him – the hall was littered with corpse corps heads, limbs and various less identifiable parts.

"Um, Ojisan, I think you missed a spot," Ruka said, as she caught sight of a large group of enemies running towards them from the other end of the wide hall.

"Let's get this over with," Freddie groaned as he knocked an arrow, and immediately proceeded to shoot one of the approaching attackers.

"We'll go down the center, Freddie, Yuki, cover the flanks," Solomon ordered, his voice suddenly taking on the authoritative tones he had not bothered with since the end of the second world war.

Aka cracked her knuckles and Ruka cracked her neck as they both drew their swords.

"KYYYAAAAAA!" Saya let out her signature battle cry as she charged forth, followed closely by her Chevaliers and the other two sword-bearing Queens.

Freddie and Yuki's arrows cut down the front line before Saya even reached it. Saya singled out her first kill as she leapt over a few rapidly crystallizing bodies and swung her sword in a downward motion at it, it's claymore-like blade blocking the slice for a split second before she plunged her weapon into it's throat.

Solomon fought just to the left of his Queen, hacking away at his opponents, not anywhere near excited or angry enough to cause any change in his moss green eyes.

Haji fought at Saya's right, lunging at an opponent with his chiropteran claw, impaling it on his arm while sustaining a superficial wound on his shoulder. He retracted his arm from its body and took a step back while Saya finished it off with her blood.

Haji moved to attack his next opponent, but briefly slipped in one of the many pools of blood, and narrowly avoided falling down.

Solomon gave a brief chortle when he caught sight of Haji's momentary lapse of grace.

Aka grunted as she sliced two of her opponents in half with one stroke. Unfortunately, as she did so, one of the bisected chiropterans' comrades attacked her from behind, running her through completely.

Her eyes narrowed and she glanced down as the sword's tip briefly protruded from her stomach before being withdrawn from her body. She whirled around to face her attacker as her body rapidly repaired it self.

"You piece of shit! Now I have to get my coat mended!" she bellowed as she sliced off one of its arms.

Just as she was about to finish it off, a yell came from behind her.

"Aka, get down!" Yuki shouted, her arrow aimed directly at Aka for the split second before she heeded the warning and ducked, allowing the blood-tipped arrow to sail over her and directly into the heart of yet another corpse corps that had been about to attack her from behind.

"Thanks!" Aka yelled as she went back to her gruesome work.

Solomon continued to fight at Saya's left, noticing a figure standing at the end of the hall, calmly taking notes as he watched the battle, safe behind dozens of his little brothers.

Gershom's calm countenance wavered a little as his enemies fought their way through his infantry, until they got a little too close for comfort. He sighed as he placed his palm computer in his pocket just before one of his arms turned teal green and grew a massive red spike out of it.

"I guess I don't have this thing for nothing," he muttered as the battle neared him, the corpse corps' numbers rapidly thinning.

Saya ducked the attempted blow of one of her attackers, just before kicking one of its knees in, causing it to fall forward. She quickly took the opportunity to run it through as it lay on the ground and placed her foot on it's back, using it as leverage to dislodge her sword from the body.

She proceeded to re-coat her weapon with blood, when a shout came from her right.

"Saya!" Haji called out as he threw himself into the path of a sword clearly aimed for Saya.

A trickle of blood formed at the edge of his lips as the blade pierced his stomach and pinned him against the wall.

"Haji!"

Her fiancée's injury distracted her from battle momentarily, giving one of her enemies an opening.

Solomon noticed a badly wounded, one armed corpse corps swinging it's sword at his beloved Queen and he quickly slashed his blade arm across its back, but unfortunately, not before it got within striking distance of Saya.

Saya flinched as the dying one-armed chiropteran managed to cut a fairly shallow wound in her side, just above her left hip.

Haji, still staked to the wall, pushed himself forward up the length of the blade, to immersed in battle to be thankful that the sword didn't have a cross guard, which would have made such a move much more difficult.

Once he had finally freed himself from the blade, he fell to the floor, only to push himself to his feet a few seconds later.

"Are you alright?" Haji asked Saya, even though her injury appeared to be nothing more than a scratch compared to his.

"Yeah, but for some reason it's not closing up and -" she paused a moment, "and it feels really weird, like when your foot falls asleep."

Solomon stopped and stood motionless for a moment, trying to think of why that statement sounded familiar.

"Oh God no…" he murmured, hastily decapitating his current opponent before appearing in front of Saya.

With an unmistakable look of panic on his face, he immediately grabbed the fabric beside the tear in her coat and ripped it away, exposing her wound.

The gash that should have completely healed over by then had hardened into ruby-like crystal, and the flesh surrounding the wound had already turned gray.

Solomon stumbled backwards as Haji's eyes met the wound.

In all the years Saya had known him, she had never seen Haji like this.

He was actually shaking with fear, his face even whiter than usual, his narrow eyes widened, his jaw trembling. A tear slipped discreetly from the corner of his eye.

Saya examined the wound with her fingers, and gasped.

Gershom laughed as he watched the scene unfold, though it was not the cackle of a deranged villain, but the laugh of someone who found something genuinely amusing. "A shame to be sure, it looks like that will be one less guinea pig for me, but I suppose having you out of the way will be convenient."

Saya stared blankly for a moment, before blinking slowly and exhaling deeply.

She raised her hands up in front of her face and she watched in morbid fascination as a few cracks formed on her fingertips.

"I'm sorry," she said softly as she continued to stare at her hands. "It was a nice future to think about, to have a family together – but -" she shook her head. "I guess it's just not meant for me. I've killed a lot of innocent people, and caused the deaths of a lot more, it wouldn't be fair to them if I lived happily ever after."

Both Chevaliers believed she was speaking only to him.

She raised her eyes to meet Haji's and echoed some of the words he had once said to her at the MET.

"What will be, will be."

The last remnants of the guards having just been defeated, the rest of the party approached the scene.

"Obachan, no!" Aka screamed. "Quick, lay her down."

Ruka helped her sister accomplish this task, both of them knowing that this would at least keep her from falling apart, and possibly slow the circulation of the toxin through her system.

Both Haji and Solomon watched in stunned silence and thought the same thing at the same time.

_I will not allow it end this way._  
Solomon's eyes flashed red as his sleeves gave way to monstrous chiropteran arms, the right ending with his usual blade, the left with a fearsome set of claws.

He lunged at Gershom, who, for all the scientific achievements he embodied, was absolutely no match for the Solomon in a one-on-one fight.

In just over a second, Solomon had his foe pinned against the wall, his bladed hand to Gershom's throat.

"Save her," Solomon growled, the characteristic pleasant tones of his voice having completely disappeared. There was no need for a verbalized death threat, it was clear enough in his blazing eyes and distorted voice.

Gershom chuckled, attempting to mask his fear with bravado. "What? Do you think I have some magic cure for crystallization hidden somewhere on my person?"

Gershom gasped hoarsely as Solomon drove his clawed arm deep into his abdomen, and he gurgled as Solomon flexed his talons within the checkmated chiropteran's body, tearing up a few internal organs from the inside.

"Do something," Solomon's voice cracked in desperation.

"What would you have me do about it? The same operation that was performed on you? Only Amshel himself knew how to do it, and he is long dead. You know more about the grafting procedure than I do," Gershom mustered a snide smirk.

Solomon's mind traveled back to the night when he nearly died. After ridiculing him for his foolishness, Amshel had forced open his mouth, and poured at least a gallon of Diva's blood down his throat, before taking out some crude medical tools and hacking off the crystallized areas, right there in the ally. That was all he could remember before he lost consciousness. He woke up several weeks later in some sort of medical tank, with Nathan standing before him, grinning and clearly entertained by the sight he beheld. By that time, the shattered parts of Solomon's body had already been replaced and Amshel and Diva were dead.

Solomon glanced back over his shoulder at Saya, her left hand now having completely hardened.

His blazing eyes returned to Gershom as his blade arm turned back into a more human-looking hand and placed it on the top of the corpse corps leader's head.

Gershom screamed in horror as Solomon's still human fingers punctured his skull giving him a firm grip and he jerked his head back, forcing the terrified creature to look up at the insanity in Solomon's hellish eyes just before he ripped his head off with his bare hands. He threw the skull away with force so great that it caused it to virtually liquefy when it hit the wall while the body was sent flying in the other direction, leaving bloody skid marks behind it as it slid down the hall.

Solomon, his face covered in anguish and blood spatter, fell to his knees as he watched his beloved continue to crystallize.

…_God, please save her. I will never ask anything of you again, just please save her. I will make up for the harm I have done, I swear it, just please don't let her die…_

Concurrently with Solomon's desperate display of violence, Haji reluctantly left Saya's side, and walked towards Akahana.

He pulled out a dagger with one hand and grabbed her wrist with the other.

"Haji it was an accident!" Aka franticly cried as the dagger moved toward her, no doubt thinking that the stoic Chevalier had snapped, and blamed her for Saya's mortal wound.

She gasped as Haji forcefully closed her hand around the blade of the dagger, cutting her skin and causing blood to seep between her fingers.

He pulled the blade from Aka's fist.

Aka stared at him in relief and confusion as he turned his back on her.

Saya quickly realized what he intended to do. "Haji don't!" she screamed.

He subtly shook his head.

"Haji stop! I wish you to stop! I order you to stop! Please don't!" Saya feebly cried from the floor.

His grip on the hilt tightened.

"Nooo!" She screamed in tears as he jabbed the dagger into his own thigh as deeply as the small weapon would allow. He didn't even flinch as he unsheathed it from his body and the dagger fell to the floor. The cracks immediately began to form at the edges of the self-inflicted wound.

"Why did you do that?!" Saya sobbed as he slowly descended to the floor and lay down at her side, embracing her and pressing her head to his chest as he always did when she cried.

"I told you not to," she wept.

"Surely you must have known that when I made _the promise_, I never intended to let you leave this world alone. Ce que sera sera." He tenderly placed his hand on her cheek. "Tu es ma raison d'etre."

Saya gave a small gasp and stared at him in surprise.

"Je suis une 'tu"?"

"Oui. Une promesse est une promesse."

She smiled through her tears.

"Je t'aime, Haji."

He smiled and embraced her as tightly as he could with out causing her cracking body to shatter.

It was advancing rapidly now, and her arms hardened around him. She could feel it travelling through her body – a cold, uncomfortable tingling sensation followed by complete numbness.

"Je t'aime, Saya," he said softly, addressing her informally again. The edge of her lips curled as the glittering red cracks traveled across her face.

He let out a brief, muted sob as he felt the last of her skin harden against him.

His own upper body had crystallized, and it was traveling quickly down his legs and up his neck.

He lowered his chin, resting his lips against her forehead, and closed his eyes as the last of his own flesh died.

The remaining comrades looked down at the embracing statue-like remains in disbelief.

Solomon covered his mouth with his hand in an attempt to stifle a heartbreaking cry of grief that could only be described as the sort of sound that makes you cry just by hearing it.

Aka and Ruka clung desperately to each other as they wept.

The eldest Chevalier was quite teared up himself as he spoke under his breath. "Brava. Bravo."

For the moment, no one noticed what was happening to Yuki.

The ancient Queen trembled violently and she pressed her palms to her temples as a painful torrent washed over her consciousness.

It was the eyes.

The sight of those burgundy-brown eyes fading to gray. That image had been burned into her very soul thousands of years ago.

The others did not notice her until she began babbling desperately in an unknown, strangely melodic language.

The three heartbroken comrades watched in confusion and the disguised Chevalier watched in fascination as the girl hunched over, still holding her head between her hands, her eyes as wide as physically possible. The babbling got louder, faster and more frantic until it had turned into one, continuous, blood curdling scream.

The ungodly noise suddenly stopped, and her posture straightened. Her eyes had closed, her expression completely serene as her hands slowly descended from her temples down to her sides and very slowly settled, one on top of the other, over her lower belly.

The wind picked up, blowing down the hall from the open door, causing her hair to whip wildly about her face.

The two hands slowly moved up along the center of her abdomen until they rested over her heart, her head lowered slightly as if she was holding something very precious against her breast, shielding it from all harm.

Her eyes opened and glowed bright blue as she slowly walked towards Saya and Haji's remains.

Yuki looked down at the tragic statues and slowly descended to her knees, tenderly touching what had once been Saya's hair, some how not causing it to crumble. She gazed down at her daughter with a sad but comforting expression, almost like a Madonna in a pieta.

She leaned over Saya's remains as she put her hand to her mouth and bit down, sinking her teeth deep into her own wrist and tearing away some of the skin.

The first drop of her blood fell just below Saya's eye and trickled down the gray stone cheek like a tear.

But in its wake, the drop of blood left a trail of pink, living flesh.

The ancient Chevalier smiled and clasped his hands together across his chest in delight.

"The blood of the mother is powerful indeed," he quietly narrated to himself.

Solomon and the twins watched in hopeful astonishment as Yuki moved her bleeding wrist over the two bodies, her blood raining down on them, turning stone into flesh where ever it fell. The spots of renewed skin quickly expanded like drops of ink on thin fabric, fusing together and traveling rapidly across Saya and Haji's bodies, just as the poison had a few minutes earlier.

The two stiff forms fell limp, still embracing each other, unconscious, but breathing weakly.

Yuki collapsed in a stress and blood-loss induced faint.

* * *

Just in case the context didn't communicate the meaning:

Ce que sera sera: what will be, will be.

Tu es ma raison d'etre: You are my reason to be.

Je suis 'tu'?: I am a informal/familiar 'you?'

Je t'aime: I love you.

Correct me if I'm wrong though… I took one semester of French two years ago…

Oh, and I'm not totally fluent in Pidgin either (used by one of the old guys at the beginning of the chapter), so once again, correct me if you are.

I actually wrote some of this chapter (such as Solomon's violent freakout) several months ago, just after finding out one of my cats had been hit and killed by a car (RIP, Pele), so yeah, I was in a pretty dark place, as you can probably guess.

If you watch the 2nd opening credit sequence (episodes 14 –25ish?), you'll see where I got my inspiration for the scene with Yuki, as well as for her character in general…


	25. Queens Regnant

This chapter contains disturbing themes.

* * *

The ground support team held their post as dawn neared. No word from the away team, but they had received a message that was just as clear.

A large, black pillar of smoke rose up from the island in the distance, a clear sign of victory.

"Yeah!" crowed Mao. "Burn in hell, asshole Americans!"

"Shut up," Kai spat, "my dad grew up in America and half the people on this team are Americans!"

"I know! I didn't say 'burn in hell _all_ Americans,' I said 'burn in hell _asshole _Americans.' They're not assholes, so they have no reason to be offended."  
"Whatever," Kai said as he rolled his eyes.

"Signals, coming in, West-Southwest!" Joel piped up from his position beside his laptop.

Kai eagerly whipped out his binoculars and scanned the horizon.

"It's them!" he announced happily, before his voice suddenly took on a slightly more somber tone. "Only four sets of wings, there should be five," he fretted out loud.

"Don't worry, we register all seven GPS trackers."

The entire team gathered at the edge of the cliff to witness the majestic sight of the airborne heroes flying in from over the sea, the purple beginnings of the dawn behind them.

Freddie was carrying an unconscious Yuki, Ruka was carrying an unconscious Haji, and Aka was carrying an unconscious Saya. Solomon would have offered to carry her, but he was concerned about how she might react if she woke up in his monstrous talons.

The four winged chiropterans came in for a landing, Solomon disappeared in a blue flash and reappeared on the ground below, while Aka, Ruka and Freddie seemed to flutter their wings slightly before their feet met the earth, running for a few yards before coming to a stop.

The entire group suddenly turned around when they caught the distinctive noise of a plastic water bottle being dropped on the gravel road. An early morning jogger stood gaping at the bat-winged humanoids, and had clearly witnessed the landing.

"Damn it," the elder David groaned, "Junior, go get the tranquilizer gun."

"Don't bother, I'll take care of this," Lewis announced, already walking toward the jogger.

The two Davids watched as Lewis stood next to the jogger, put his arm over his shoulder as if he was an old friend, and turned to him with a friendly grin.

"No one will believe you," Lewis said in his booming yet amiable voice and gave the man a friendly slap on the back along with a jovial chuckle as he slipped a several hundred-dollar bills into the jogger's pocket.

"Taken care of," Lewis declared as he rejoined the group and the unnerved jogger continued on his way. Lewis turned to Joel. "Your old dad is especially liberal with our hush-money budget_."_

Meanwhile, Kai ran up to the newly landed away team, having noticed that several of them were unconscious.

"What happened!?"

"They are alright," Solomon announced as he knotted his tie, now in human form and almost fully dressed, "but we should probably get them to Dr. Silverstein as soon as possible."

* * *

Freddie placed Yuki on the couch as Julia and Kai entered, talking amongst themselves.

"…Aka insisted on taking care of them herself, Ruka and Solomon are helping. Saya and Haji are in stable condition, I have them both hooked up to a few packs of Haji's blood that I had saved for an emergency, Haji is actually showing signs of consciousness but Saya -"

"The heavy sleeper, as always," Kai said with a sigh.

Julia bent over to examine Yuki and proceeded to take her temperature, pulse and blood pressure. "She seems healthy, but her pulse is abnormally high considering she's unconscious."

"…raausio irneaa…raausio irneuu…." Yuki mumbled weakly, her eyes still closed, but twitching rapidly as of she was dreaming.

Kai and Julia glanced at each other.

"….raausu irneaa… alaneiu…" Yuki continued, each syllable having it's own specific pitch, almost as if she was singing.

"What language is that?"

"I don't know," Julia said slowly, "it could be a lost chiropteran language."

"What do you think she's saying?" Kai wondered aloud.

"The heartbeats," Freddie interjected.

"What?" Kai and Julia exclaimed simultaneously.

"That's what she's saying, 'the heartbeats – the heartbeats – forgive me,'" said Freddie, sounding puzzled at the translation himself.

"How the hell do _you_ know what she's saying?" Kai asked skeptically.

"I'm her Chevalier," he quickly answered with a non-chalant shrug. He turned to Julia and winked. "Sometimes we know things."

Kai accepted this answer and Julia narrowed her eyes but Kai changed the subject before she had a chance to ponder the meaning of what the "New Chevalier" had said.

"Shouldn't we should get her on a blood drip?"

"Not necessary," Freddie declared as he sat on the couch beside his Queen, his arms encircling her waist as he pulled her into a sitting position, propping her up against his chest, her chin on his shoulder. He pulled his collar away, exposing his neck.

"C'mon sweetheart," he said almost pleadingly as he gently pressed her face to his neck. After a few seconds, the still unconscious Queen accepted his offer, letting out the distinct hissing intake of breath that always preceded the bite.

"Good girl," Freddie said quietly, before briefly glaring at Kai and Julia as they watched. "Do you mind?" his wavering voice and lulling eyes making it clear that he was deriving some considerable pleasure from this. The two humans took the hint and left the room.

Yuki's eyes suddenly snapped open, her pupils so dilated that they almost completely eclipsed her blue irises.

"The heartbeats! The heartbeats!" she screamed franticly as she scrambled away from Freddie.

He leaned forward and forcefully captured her in his arms. "It's alright, it's alright," he said soothingly as she finally relaxed against him and sobbed.

"Shhhhh. It's alright. I'm here, you're safe," he whispered.

"…It's like a million voices all screaming at me at once," she whimpered, "but it's not just voices, it's images, sounds, faces, smells, feelings…"

"It can only hurt you if you let it," he said softly.

"I don't know what any of it means," she wept.

"Try to isolate one image at a time," he continued to tenderly stroke her hair, "tell me what you see, it'll help you focus your thoughts."

She cried for a few more seconds before taking in a deep trembling breath, and closing her eyes.

"I see … snow… lots of snow…"

* * *

Crunch crunch crunch crunch.

It was just like the re-occurring dream, she saw it through her own eyes, but she had no control over her actions.

She looked up at the silver-white winter sky wreathed by treetops.

She could still hear her own thoughts on what she was experiencing.

_Why am I running?_

She then heard the other set of feet swiftly trudging though the snow behind her, chasing her.

_Who am I running from? _

Whoever they were, they were rapidly gaining. Knowing that she would be caught soon, she jumped behind the trunk of a large pine and stood utterly motionless, trying to still her breathing so she might not be noticed.

No such luck.

Her pursuer appeared before her in a blue streak. It was a girl, possibly in her early teens by human standards, her eyes covered by a cloth blindfold.

_Her face…_

_It's … me? _

"Tresna fa! Tresna fa!" The girl giddily exclaimed.

_Wait. I understood that… "_I found you! I found you!"

_I'm chasing… myself?_

The girl then ripped off the blindfold, and offered it to her. "You're turn!"

_Those eyes, just like Saya's._

_She looks like me, only with Saya's eyes._

_I know her…_

_She's- _

_She's- _

_Anyaharla. _

_She's Anyaharla. _

_My older twin sister. _

Suddenly, a much darker image super-imposed itself over her sister's face.

The image of a disheveled young woman, standing in the back of a very large room. It was clearly the same person, but her expression made her almost unrecognizable. The ragged woman bore a look of unimaginable, irrational hatred, but also of profound pain, and it was directed squarely at her younger sister.

Her sister was holding a sword, dripping with blood, and completely with out warning, charged at her.

_But why? Why would she attack me?_

…

She stood in a grand hall, dressed in a white robe of an unknown type of fabric, amazingly soft to the touch, thick and yet feather light. Close beside her stood a man with kind bronze eyes, his light brown hair with a few subtle streaks of gray, even though he looked as if he couldn't be much more than thirty.

He held her hand gently.

_My Consort... _

_He was always so sweet to me… it was an arranged marriage, but I did care about him, very much._

Her eyes continued to wander around the room. The floor seemed to be made of one giant flat piece of stone, polished to a glass-like smoothness, there were no walls, only enormous stone pillars holding up the high ceiling. A crowd of around fifty people lined the edge of the large room.

At the head of the grand hall sat three women.

_The elders._

A human unfamiliar with Chiropterans might have laughed to hear those women called _elders_, since none of them appeared to be a day over eighteen, at the most. The one in the center sat higher than the others, her skin dark mocha, her harsh eyes that distinctive burgundy brown, her hair done in hundreds of intricate, dirty blonde braids.

_She's my great great aunt._

In front of the three elders stood Anyaharla, dressed in an identical white robe, behind her stood a tall, richly dressed man with waist length platinum-blonde hair.

_My sister's Consort. _

At her sister's feet was a simply dressed, tan skinned young man with black hair so short that he was nearly bald, kneeling humbly, his palms to his floor, his nose between his palms.

_That must be her 'Groom.'_

The center elder stood as a gasp spread throughout the court.

"What is the meaning of this?" she spoke in a deep, resonant voice. "Why is he here?" she pointed at the kneeling young man.

"He wouldn't do it!" Anyaharla promptly answered, clearly trying to sound angry, but a tinge of fear peeking through her haughty expression.

"This is an outrage!" the blonde man shouted indignantly. "How dare you, you cowardly maggot!" he growled as he stepped closer to the kneeling young man, with the clear intention of kicking him.

"Stop," the center elder ordered as she turned her attention to the boy. "What say you, Groom? You refuse to fulfill your destiny?"

"No, your grace," he cried, his voice slightly muffled against the floor. "I did as I was commanded."

"He lies!" the brown-eyed Queen nearly screamed.

"It's true your grace, I did as I was told," he interjected, his body tensing at the end of the statement, clearly expecting to be struck.

"Tell me, Groom, when you took her, was there blood?"

He hesitated for a moment. "No, your grace."

The fear was becoming very visible on her sister's face. "Don't tell me you actually believe him?"

"I have heard enough talk in my life to know what _is_ and what _is not_. This Groom's words smell of truth, yours reek of the opposite."

"No! He lies!" Anyaharla whimpered.

"You have broken the law of chastity," the center elder pronounced sternly.

The brown-eyed Queen stole a desperate glance at a strikingly handsome, though middle-aged man in the crowd.

_I remember, she had been deeply in love with her fencing instructor for years, and she told me that the relationship had been consummated… she didn't believe in the elder's warnings, she thought that hibernation and bareness was just a myth, made up to scare young Queens into keeping their knees shut until marriage. I always suspected it was just a myth too, but I never broke the law._

_She was always braver than I was._

The tall platinum blonde man clearly noticed his new wife's stolen glance at her fencing instructor.

"So the rumors are true!" he bellowed furiously as he approached his Queen's lover. "Do you have any idea what you have done?! You have doomed her to living death!" he roared as he suddenly appeared before the handsome swordsmen, his arm already through the mortal's heart.

"Nooooo!" Anyaharla screamed as she rushed to her lover's side, catching him as he sunk toward the floor.

Her dying lover whispered something inaudible to her.

All three elders were now standing. "You dare commit a murder of unsanctioned vengeance and before the entire court?!" the center elder asked the bloody-handed blonde. "We have created a society of laws, that human's crime was great, but it did not carry the penalty of death," she said, looking towards the dead man before returning her glare to Anyaharla's Consort, "You may have become an immortal knight, but you do not have the right to take the law into your own hands. You have committed murder, which _does_ carry a penalty of death!" she turned to glance at the other elders. They nodded silently. "With such an abundance of witnesses, there is no need for further deliberations," she declared as a tiny blade flew from her sleeve, shallowly sliced through the arm of the young blue-eyed Queen and then lodged in his throat.

He gasped slightly as he crystallized and fell to the floor in pieces.

Anyaharla stood, trembling in shock between the lifeless bodies of her lover and husband.

"And you," the center elder growled, "you must realize what you have done. You have broken the law that is to never be questioned, you have brought shame upon your clan, and what's more, you and your sister were the last two fertile Queens in existence. Our numbers have dwindled since the war, the war that your mother gave her life to end. You had one chance to increase our population, to sustain our fading species, and you have thrown it away for a human."

Anyaharla was weeping by this time.

The center elder appeared behind the disgraced Queen, produced a dagger, and with one stroke, cut through her ankle length braids.

"You are hereby stripped of your title and banished from this court, immediately and permanently."

_She lost everything. Her husband, her lover, her family, her throne, her chance to have children, and was also doomed to an eternity of hibernation._

_Her only crime was falling in love._

Anyaharla gave her younger twin sister a brief, pleading stare.

_There was nothing I could have done._

_I still should have done something, even if it was to join her in exile._

_I should have done something._

_I should have done something._

…

She was sitting at the head of yet a different grand hall, with an angled, wood-thatched ceiling and a clay floor with a roaring fire in the center. Dozens of people sat at tables along the room's perimeter, it was some sort of banquet.

_I remember this place. This is our new fief, that island in the Far West._

Beside her, sat her husband.

In front of her was an enormous, swollen belly.

_What was that?_

She placed her hands over her stomach, intrigued by the strange sensation.

_Some weird indigestion? _

_No. _

She smiled as the realization came over her.

_My babies -_

_One of them just kicked._

She closed her eyes.

_I can feel their little heartbeats._

She felt another sharp internal jolt, this time, almost strong enough to be painful, soon followed by several smaller rumbles.

She sighed and tapped her belly with her finger.

"Now, now, behave yourselves you two, don't kick your sister," she said aloud.

Her husband gave an amused chuckle and she began to hum an extremely familiar melody.

_The lullaby my mother used to sing._

The ruckus in her womb mysteriously died down.

"That's right, go back to sleep. Soon, it'll be time to come out and play."

Suddenly, the room went silent as a ragged young woman appeared at the other end of the hall, a long, rusted sword in her hand.

She stood as she spoke to her big sister. "You're actually here!" she exclaimed happily. "I've been so worried!"

Anyaharla just stared at her, her expression filled with unimaginable hatred, and her eyes filled with crippling pain.

"You, worried?" The troubled Queen spoke with venomous anger. "What do _you_ have to be worried about?"

"I was worried about you!"

"You, worried about me? Why would you worry about me? I am nothing. I am worse than nothing – I am disgraced."

"Sister -" she heard herself murmur, more alarmed by the terrifying vacant darkness in her sister's eyes than the blood coated sword clutched in her hands.

"I am not your sister anymore, I am exiled, remember? I wander alone, waiting for my time to run out while you sit here in your castle, your perfect husband beside you and your perfect babies inside you," her voice echoed with her despair. "But soon, we will be equals again, I shall make it so."

Just as the last word escaped her sister's lips, the tormented Queen disappeared in a blue streak, charging towards her_._

She could have gotten out of the way in time, but she was so stunned by her sister's unprovoked attack that she stood, paralyzed with shock. She stood, frozen as the deadly weapon approached.

_I know what happened now. She couldn't handle the loneliness, guilt, grief and shame…_

_If I were to be in her situation, I probably would have lost my mind too._

She shut her eyes at the last moment.

"Ughn…"

But the noise wasn't from her. She felt the blade slide into her abdomen with less force than she had expected.

Her eyes opened to the back of her husband's head. He was standing in front of her, the sword had run him through completely before piercing her belly.

"Noooo!"

He immediately pulled the sword from their bodies, and whirled around to face his Queen.

"Are you alright?" he asked hoarsely as his legs crumbled beneath him, leaving him lying on the floor.

She looked down at her wound. There was not even a hint of crystallization, his body had absorbed the poison.

She nodded in tears.

"The babies – are they alright?" was the last thing he managed to say before his face turned to stone.

She looked down at her wound again, only now realizing that the sword had pierced directly through her womb.

She placed her hand over it.

_The little heartbeats – they've stopped._

She began to tremble with profound grief – and fury.

"You killed them," she murmured.

Anyaharla's expression had not changed, still full of hatred and pain.

She felt her eyes begin to glow as they locked on her older sister's. With out breaking the stare, she reached down and tightly gripped the sword that had been just pulled from her own belly.

"You killed them!" she roared as she flew at her sister in a rage. In the back of her mind, it vaguely registered that the blade had pierced her unborn children, and their blood had the power to kill her sister.

Her sister made no attempt to defend herself as the weapon plunged into her chest.

She heard Anyaharla's voice, even though her lips were not moving.

"_Now, we are sisters again."_

The burgundy brown eyes turned to gray stone.

…

Crunch crunch crunch crunch…

She was running in the snow again, only this time, it was at night. The white blanket covering the ground seemed to glow against the dark, rust-orange sky.

Crunch……… crunch………. crunch…….. crunch…

She felt the tears begin to freeze against her cheek. She was running at her absolute top speed, over a hundred miles an hour. The sound of the crunching snow slowed as she reached a clearing, and she paced forward across it until she came to the edge of a massive cliff.

Crunch crunch.

She pulled a small dagger from her robes. The scabbard was carved with an intricate image of a bird in flight, with a long, flowing tail, just below it was an inscription in her native language. In a strange coincidence, the four characters used looked vaguely similar to roman letters, and if they were to be read in English, it would have been pronounced 'Saya.'

She pulled the shiny dagger from its scabbard.

_I blamed myself for what happened. I believed that I could have prevented it if I had been a better sister – if I had told Anyaharla not to sleep with that man, or if I had joined her in exile, she wouldn't have gone mad._

_I wanted to die. I thought I had nothing left…_

_I thought my babies were dead._

_All I wanted was to be dead, like them._

Committing suicide unassisted was a difficult thing to accomplish for a full-blooded chiropteran Queen. She knew she would have to be thorough.

She cut a bone-deep gash in both her wrists and dove headlong into the precipice with out hesitation.

Her hair came undone and streamed upwards over her body as she fell into the dark nothingness, concentrating hard not to reflexively use her powers of flight, her eyes closed in anticipation of the eternal sleep she believed she would soon have.

Suddenly, her eyes snapped open.

_The heartbeats – they've started again. _

She placed her hands over her womb as she fell.

_They're alive._

_My babies are alive._

Through the darkness, she could see base of the cliff rapidly approaching.

_I have a reason to live._

_I can't die, not when I can give them life._

She gave in to the instinct she had been suppressing, and she took on a full chiropteran form, massive wings extending from her arms…

But it was too late, there wasn't enough time to catch a current of air.

Yuki couldn't remember hitting the ground, but she could remember what she had said out loud just before she died.

"The heartbeats – forgive me," she sobbed into Freddie's shoulder, his Queen's ramblings about her memories having moved him to tears as well.

After a few minutes of crying, her eyes snapped open, just as they had over nine thousand years ago, when she realized her children were still alive.

She leapt out of her Chevalier's arms, and ran down the hall, into the master bedroom of the house.

Solomon, Akahana and Ruka all stood round a double bed, Haji on the right side, his eyes half open, watching over Saya, as she slept at his left.

Solomon and the twins turned toward the tear-stained, blue-eyed Queen, and all three seemed to instantly comprehend what was happening. They silently backed away from the bed and stood by the wall, soon joined by Freddie.

The ancient Queen slowly approached the bed, smiling as tears continued to stream down her face.

Yuki bent down and kissed her forehead.

Saya cooed softly in her sleep as one of her mother's tears fell on her cheek.

Yuki simply gazed down on her sleeping daughter for what seemed like an eternity, before she turned to the others in the room, her expression now considerably less joyful.

"Where is my other daughter?"

* * *


	26. The Blood of the Mother

Well, the mob (my esteemed and respected reviewing readers, who fill my days with sunshine and rainbows!) has spoken, and the title of this story will remain the same! Glad I didn't change impulsively change it, thought the other title might be more mainstream, but I am pleased to know you guys appriciate the nuance of the original title.

* * *

Saya's head shifted against her pillow, and she rubbed an abnormally large amount of sleep from her eyes.

As the white ceiling slowly came into focus, she felt a cool hand slowly caress her neck and shoulder. She knew that touch anywhere, those cool hands, amazingly soft except for the cello calluses on his left fingertips. She turned to see Haji, lying in bed on his side, facing her, mostly covered by a white sheet. She immediately noticed that something was different, though it took her a moment to realize what it was.

"Your hand -"

Saya grabbed his right arm, and pinched the supple, pale skin curiously.

She gazed at him thoughtfully for nearly a minute.

"Is this heaven?" she asked softly, thinking that this was the only possible explanation.

"We _are_ in bed together," he replied matter-of-factly, with a slight smirk.

"I see." She smiled as she scooted closer to him.

"You are very much alive," Solomon's voice came from behind her, having entered the room upon sensing that she was awake. Saya blushed and quickly moved to a less intimate distance from her fiancée.

Solomon placed a hand on her shoulder, as if to reassure himself that she was real, and wouldn't shatter. Haji's fingers twitched in irritation at the caress, wondering if Solomon had intentionally spoiled the moment.

Saya sat up in bed and glanced around the room, finally seeing that she was back at the shield's current field headquarters. Apparently aware that she was awake, Dr. Julia, Kai, Ruka and Akahana had entered, and were all standing at the other end of the room.

"What happened with the mission?" asked Saya, the answer to this question being more important to her than an explanation of how she had survived.

"The lab has been completely destroyed, and all the corpse corps on the island have been annihilated," Solomon happily explained. "The news is already attributing the explosion to eco-terrorists."

Saya turned to the others in the room and asked the other question on her mind. "How can we be alive? We were both crystallized…"

"Shirayuki saved you, with her blood," Dr. Julia said as she stepped forward. "It actually confirms a theory put forward some time ago, ironically by professor Collins. He postulated that when a Queen becomes pregnant, her blood becomes a neutralizing agent for the toxic elements in the blood of her daughters, so the fetuses do not poison each other in the womb. Apparently when a Queen has children, not only does her blood loose it's potency, but it also has the ability to reverse crystallization in the blood of her daughters, or Chevaliers that were made with the blood of her daughters."

"That's right," Yuki said proudly as she entered the room. "The blood of the sister's power to harm is nothing compared to the blood of the mother's power to heal. As far as I know, it can reverse any injury, including Haji's 'bad hand,' but Saya, even a sip of your blood would have cleared that right up, try not to be so stingy!"

Saya sighed. "You've remembered, haven't you?"

"A lot of things are still hazy to me, but I have remembered who I am, and more importantly, who you are. I can't believe I didn't realize it before." She smiled. "It seems so obvious now, not just from your looks but – only my own daughter could possibly be this precious to me."

A tear trickled down Saya's cheek, and Yuki quickly wiped it away. The mother and daughter embraced each other tightly. _This is what it feels like to have a mother, _thought Saya.

After a few seconds, Yuki turned to address the others in the room. "Do you think you could give us a minute?"

The onlookers promptly exited, but Solomon hesitated, taking a moment to gaze at the woman he had so nearly lost before he walked out and stood on the other side of the door.

Haji placed his feet on the floor and stood.

"Haji, you're not well yet, you should stay in bed," said Saya.

"No, I am alright, I have regained most of my strength. I was staying in bed to watch over you."

"Isn't he just the sweetest thing?" Yuki giggled before turning to Haji. "You have my full approval, by the way. When the time comes, I _will_ give my daughter to you. But that time is not here yet! She's mine for now!"

Haji took the hint and left the two women, taking his place just outside the door a few feet away from Solomon. Both men had assumed this position so as to be at their Queen's disposal, neither had the actual intention of listening in on the conversation. However, their chiropteran ears allowed them to hear the whole conversation as clear as day. Eavesdropping was unavoidable, or at least it came with a good excuse.

Saya looked at her mother as she sat down on the bed. "I don't know what to call you now," she said shyly.

"Well, my real name is Alodia, but I kind of like Shirayuki."

"I mean, should I call you -"

" – Mother? Lets just take things one step at a time," Yuki giggled, causing Saya to do the same.

Yuki sighed as she prepared to bring up a more somber subject. "They told me about Diva."

The joy quickly drained out of Saya's face, and was quickly replaced by crippling remorse as she burst into tears. As is a mother's instinct, Yuki quickly threw her arms around her daughter, rubbing her back softly.

"I'm sorry, I had to, I'm so sorry, I wanted to die with her, but it didn't work, I'm so sorry," Saya sobbed. "I killed her, my own sister, if you don't want to see me anymore, I'll understand."

Yuki pulled away and looked Saya squarely in the eye.

"No Saya, I understand. It is a sin that I also bare."

Saya stared at Yuki in surprise. "What?"

"I killed my sister, too. In some ways, the situation was very similar to yours. She was driven insane by circumstances that could have broken anyone. She became a danger to society, but the truth is, I killed her for revenge." Yuki paused. "I got the impression that it was the same with you and Diva, she was dangerous and you needed revenge. I understand, Saya, and I forgive you. You only did what you had to do." She paused again. "I do wish that things could have been different between you and your sister, but I don't blame either of you. It sounds as if the real villain was her Chevalier. I wish I could have been there to protect you from him," her tone darkened considerably, "and if he weren't already dead," her fingers tightened into a fist and her eyes flashed briefly, "I would have made sure he spent the rest of eternity suffering for what he did to my baby."

Yuki took a deep breath and exhaled. "But what's done is done," her voice had regained almost all of it's usual lightheartedness, "the future is bright, and with time, I'm sure the wrongs of the past can be made right."

The two Chevaliers outside the door heard this. Solomon arched a brow.

_What could she mean? Could she be planning to…_

_No, that's impossible. Diva died at the MET just before it was destroyed, her remains were vaporized during the bombing, right? _

Saya, distracted by her own emotions, didn't have a chance to fully absorb her mother's statement before Yuki changed the subject.

"There is something that I don't understand though – how did I come to be alive again?"

Saya wiped her eyes with a corner of the sheet. "Actually, we're not really sure, but we think you're Chevalier used his blood, we haven't seen him since."

Yuki gave a thoughtful hum. "Such things are not unheard of, but -" she shook her head, "that couldn't possibly be what happened, my Chevalier died the same day I did, crystallized by my sister."

Saya furrowed her brows in confusion. "But he said that in the old days, Queens always had two Chevaliers, didn't you have another?"

"I don't think s- "

…

She was standing at the head of the grand stone hall, facing a very large crowd.

_I'm at the old temple._

She looked down at her clothes.

_This is formal ceremonial regalia. I hated wearing this, it made moving so awkward._

She was wearing at least eight layers of clothing. Underneath was a simple white, a-line type gown, extending backwards into a long, narrow train, decorated with thousands of peacock feathers. Around her waist was a gold belt that sat just above the swell of her hips, dipping down in a chevron-shape in the center. Over it all was a knee-length blue cape attached at both her shoulders and her wrists, with a deeply scalloped hem.

_The crown was the worst, so heavy!_

Her hair hung down naturally, under a gold headdress with spires, not unlike a modern tiara, except instead of extending up vertically, the points extended backwards, making her appear to have golden spikes coming from the back of her hair. Two clusters of gold chains hung down over her temples, down to her chin.

She looked to her left and saw her sister, dressed identically, other than her red cape.

It was then that she finally noticed the boy kneeling in front of her, dressed in purple. His bowed head made it impossible to see his face.

An attendant handed her a sword. It was a ceremonial weapon, its hilt made of gold and ivory, its long, straight blade coated with chrome that reflected as clearly as any mirror. She extended the sword out in front of her, and placing it on the boy's shoulder. He was literally shaking with fear, she could feel the vibrations traveling up through the sword.

"I consecrate you, 'Groom' of my other self, father of my nieces. May your daughters shine their greatness upon the world and be adored as the earthly goddesses they are, may they be the guides and guardians of all humans that prove themselves worthy by kneeling before them."

With a flick of her wrist, the tip of the blade left his shoulder and cut a shallow but deadly wound across the front of his throat.

"You are human, no longer."

She pointed her sword upward in front of her as the young man gurgled and sunk towards the floor. She immediately ran her hand up, along the length of the blade, knelt down beside the dying young man and put her bleeding palm to her mouth.

_He was my sister's groom, I guess technically, he was my Chevalier too, I just never thought about it like that._

_But what happened to him?_

…

She was in the same grand hall, but this time under very different circumstances. She instantly knew that this was the day her sister was banished, and quickly realized that it was only a few minutes after the ill-fated Queen had first been escorted off the premises.

"What is to become of her groom?" she asked as she slowly approached the elders.

They glanced at each other. "Had he been successful in the creation of the next generation, his life would have been offered up as a sacrifice to ensure a favorable future for his daughters. Even though he has failed in his mission, it is still his duty and destiny to die this day."

"But why?"

The clamor from amongst the courtiers suddenly turned to shocked silence.

"You must not question our customs, young one, lest you end up like your sister."

"Why must he die?" she continued, trying to ignore the numerous scandalized gasps. "He has done nothing wrong, and there are no children to benefit from his sacrifice."

_I don't quite know what came over me, but for some reason, I felt like I had to save him. _

"There is no place in our society for a 'Groom' without a bride! The existence of an unsanctioned immortal could destroy the balance that we have all worked so hard to restore," the center elder said sternly, clearly becoming annoyed.

She thought for a moment. "Why not just exile him?"

The elders exchanged glances again.

"She makes a good point," the left elder said, "there is no reason for him to die, send him to the mainland."

The ill-tempered center elder considered this. "Very well, let him be the human's problem." She turned to the still-kneeling young man. "Groom, you are to be taken to the mainland, and you are never to enter any of our realms again. If any member of this clan so much as senses your presence, you're life will be forfeit. Do you understand?"

"Yes, your grace."

"Now be gone!"

"Wait!" the young Queen exclaimed as she approached him. "Rise."

He obeyed and stood before her, his head still bowed deeply. She leaned forward to whisper in his ear. "I'm sorry, it was the best I could do, but I have something to ask of you. When you reach the mainland, please look for my sister. If you are able find her, then please, do what you can to help her."

_That must be why I wanted to save him._

"I will do whatever you ask, my _mother and lover_."

_That voice, it sounds familiar, some how._

"Oh, and thank you for the flowers, gardener."

She smiled at him and he finally looked her in the eye. It was only when he smiled back that she finally realized that she knew that face anywhere. True, his skin was a bit more tan due to all the time he had spent outdoors, his hair was shorn short, as was customary for a man of his station, and there was no hint of a beard… but it was definitely the same face.

…

Her mind returned to the present.

"Gardener…" she said in a faint murmur before she shrieked at the top of her lungs. "Freddie Gardener!"

Freddie bounded into the room like a summoned dog.

"What? What is it?"

Yuki stomped across the room toward him.

"YOU LYING SACK OF SHIT!" she bellowed, immediately proceeding to punch him in the face hard enough to send him flying backwards until he hit the wall.

The two Chevaliers stationed just outside the door rushed in the room, having noticed the sound of someone being slapped around.

"Owwww," Freddie groaned as he clicked his nose back into place, the skin surrounding his left eye briefly turned dark purple before fading to yellow, and finally returning to it's normal color.

"Yuki! What wrong with you?!" Saya asked, shocked by her mother's sudden burst of violence.

"He's been lying this whole time! He's not who he says he is!" she growled. "He's my Chevalier from before!"

Saya thought for a moment. "Nathan? It can't be..."

"No, it's me, darling," Freddie said, using the voice of his previous persona.

Saya gasped, and Haji grimaced in disgust, horrified by the idea that the young protégé that he had actually grown somewhat fond of, was actually the obnoxious homophile that had teasingly hit on him relentlessly only a few months before. He also soon took notice of the fact that his co-Chevalier did not look particularly surprised.

The ancient Chevalier descended to his knees before his Queen, much as he had several millennia ago.

"Please forgive me for failing in my mission. I was unable to find your sister."

Yuki gave a confused frown. "You think that's what I'm angry about?!"

"No, I've just been waiting to say that for a _very_ long time."

"I'm not mad about that! I never even thought you would find her, and even if you did, she would have never accepted your help! I only asked you so I could at least feel like I had tried to help her!"

Yuki choked on a sob. "I'm not mad about that! I'm mad about everything else!" Yuki was actually trembling with fury and emotion. "How dare you?!" she shrieked. Her voice faded to a furious whimper, "How could you? How could you do that to me?!" She cried for a few seconds. "It was all a lie! Everything! Everything you said! Everything between us! I actually – I actually - the man I love doesn't even exist!"

"Yuki," he said soothingly, "that's not true."

"Oh yeah! Like I'm gonna believe a word you say!"

The kneeling Chevalier sighed deeply. "Yuki, I think I have a great deal to explain."

She glared down at him, still shaking irately.

"Well you better start talking!"

* * *


	27. A Chevalier's Patience

This chapter contains mild adult themes.

* * *

The ancient Chevalier drew in a deep breath before speaking. "I only lied about my name and my past, my feelings for you are absolutely true. I love you, in a way, I have loved you since the first moment I saw you, that angel that used to sing in the gardens.

"I'm sure you didn't know it, but I lived for those precious moments, secretly watching you, basking in your glorious voice and beauty." He laughed briefly. "Looking back, at that time, I think my feelings for you were nothing more than an adolescent crush. But I do remember the day, the exact moment when I truly fell in love with you, but it's not the moment you think. It wasn't on the day I was reborn, it was after that, when you asked the elders to spare my life before the entire court, risking your own reputation for the sake of someone who couldn't have been much more than a slave in your eyes, and then, when you smiled and thanked me for the flowers… Over the years, I have absorbed a great deal of romantic poetry and prose, but I still know of no words to describe that moment," he sighed and put his hand over his heart.

The words were coming from his lips so smoothly, it seemed clear that he had rehearsed this speech.

"When I was sent away, I immediately set out to find your sister. I searched for her every hour of every day, but never even found a trace of her." he paused and swallowed. "After two years of searching, I was out walking when suddenly, and overpowering feeling fell over me – It was like my heart had caved in on it self, it felt as if my blood had turned freezing cold, literally," he blinked as a tear ran down his cheek. "With out anyone telling me, I knew that you had died. I felt it.

"I cannot begin to tell you the pain I experienced, not only at knowing that you were dead, but I also made the logical assumption that it was your sister that had killed you, and I believed that if I had not failed in my mission to find her, I could have prevented you from dying by her hand. I blamed myself for your death.

"The only reason I allowed myself to continue living was my realization that because you had given me your blood, a part of you still lived, in me. As long as your blood flowed through my veins, you would never truly die. Even though a Chevalier's existence may seem meaningless after the death of his Queen, I knew that if I were to end my life, I would be throwing away the precious gift you had given me. I made up my mind to continue living – forever.

"And, over the course of many ages, I was able to find some measure of happiness again, taking on new lives, finding new reasons to live, making new friends and, I wont lie to you, occasionally even lovers." He paused and looked up at her. "But I never, not even for moment, forgot the earthly goddess that gave me eternal life, and even more generously, gave me her smile."

Yuki's eyes watered.

"Then, in 1964, when I happened to be passing through Paris, I heard a familiar song being sung by an unfamiliar voice. Naturally, I followed it to its source." He paused. "The moment I saw Diva, I knew that somehow, your daughters must have survived.

"From then on, I made it my business to find out everything I possibly could about them, and I can't tell you how deeply saddened I was when I finally pieced their story together." His fingers tightened into a fist. "Their misery was mainly caused by Amshel Goldsmith, a man who was a monster long before he became a chiropteran.

"I couldn't allow that tragedy to continue. While I believe they both suffered greatly, it was Diva who was the worst off, so I decided to help her first. Having found out that Amshel would eventually require Diva to become an opera star, I took on a new face and began the process of cultivating myself as an opera producer, and once I had achieved that, it was only a matter of placing myself in the right place at the right time to be chosen.

"When I joined the ranks of Diva's Chevaliers, I did everything I could to free her from Amshel. When I was asked to mate with her, I just spent the whole night explaining who I really was, and that I had come to rescue her from Amshel. She was delighted at the idea that I had met her mother, and surprisingly enough, kept my secret, but leaving Amshel was just impossible for her. Even though it was his neglect and abuse that had caused her mental illness, for the first decades of her life, he was not only the source of her suffering, he was the source of her only comfort. While growing up, the closest thing she knew to happiness were the moments of social contact she received when he came to feed her, and I believe this is the root of her life long obsession with feeding, since she associated blood with the closest thing she knew to love. For all his cruelty, Amshel was all she knew, and she was unwilling and unable to be free of him.

"It was also at that time that I gained access to Amshel's diary, a meticulously kept record of all his research. As I looked through it's sadistic pages, I discovered something wonderful – that your remains still existed, and were not crystallized. I knew that this meant that I could revive you with my blood, and immediately set off to do just that, but when I found your body, I saw the wounds carved into your forearms, and realized that you had committed suicide.

"I had no idea what had driven you to this, but I knew that whatever it was, it must have been horrible, something that no one could have borne. Knowing this, I realized that it would be cruel to wake you to a world in which one of your daughters was tragically insane, and the other was on a never ending quest to kill her and then herself." He paused and blotted his eye with his sleeve. "I resolved not to resurrect you until things between Saya and Diva had been settled.

"It eventually became my plan to arrange for them both to be pregnant at the time of the inevitable final confrontation, thus rendering them unable to kill each other, so perhaps a truce, or better yet, an alliance, could be reached.

"Originally, I planned to pair Diva with Haji, but fate threw Riku Miyagusuku into the mix, and Diva chose him instead. As for Saya, I hoped to have Diva turn Kai into a Chevalier, so he could sire Saya's children. Unfortunately, at the Thanksgiving concert in North Carolina, it became clear to me that Kai would not be turned, despite the _carrot_ of fathering Saya's children. Luckily, I had a plan B – Solomon, and as a failsafe, I had already set it in motion by calling him up and informing him of Saya's location and that she was in danger. I knew that he would come to save her due to his already being in love with her, and I knew he would whisk her away afterwards due to his overconfidence in his own charms and his obliviousness to her feelings.

"Unfortunately, despite her being naked in his bed for almost forty-eight hours, conception did not occur. So, I lured Solomon back to my place in order to have a man-to-man talk with him about his creepy wooing techniques, but that only ended with him chained up in my basement," he rolled his eyes, "entirely due to his own stupidity.

"I was still hopeful though. When one of my then-co-Chevaliers was dispatched to kill Saya, I released Solomon, thinking that he would once again rescue, kidnap and attempt to seduce her, hopefully with more success, but I think we all know how _that_ ended. With Solomon effectively out of the picture, and only a few days until the fateful performance at the MET, I realized that I had no choice but to leave Diva to her fate, not only because in death, she would finally have her freedom, but because if she had survived under those circumstances, the world would have been overrun by chiropterans, causing an ecological imbalance that would almost certainly be fatal to the human race as well as our kind.

"The big day finally came and my poor Diva passed on at the hands of her sister, thus leaving Saya to the suicide she had awaited so eagerly. I wasn't worried about that though, I knew there was no way Kai and Haji would let her. Just after that, I faked my own death by leading Saya to believe that she had killed me as well, so she could at least go to sleep in peace, believing she had completed her mission.

"I spent the next few decades tending to your granddaughters – poor Kai as the single father of special-needs twins – that's more than anyone should have to bear, and that was before he conned Mao into hooking up with him again. Along with Solomon, I helped their paternal-uncle to care for them, and later, taught them how to use and control their chiropteran powers.

"As Saya's awakening approached once more, I sensed that the time to finally bring you back was nearly at hand and began making my final preparations, most of which were aimed at getting you another set of grand children. Oh, and by the way, I don't think the ship has sailed on that either." He winked and gestured to Solomon. "Anyway, I traveled to Bordeaux, arranging for your family to follow me, and used my blood to revive you. While I recovered from the blood loss, I watched over you from a far until you were found by Saya, Haji and Solomon.

"It was always my intention that you end up with the Miyagusukus, it was my hope that their support would help you in the same way it had helped Saya get through the return of her own memories. I always stayed close by in order to make sure that you were safe, and spent a good deal of time sneaking around Kadena, spying on the American military. It wasn't long after I became the _Kyudo Boy_ that I discovered that the Americans were planning to attack you, as they had learned of your existence and desperately wanted a sample of your blood. I rushed to your home to make sure you were safe and what happened next was not something I had planned. You may not realize this, but you actually did kill me that day, and if you hadn't given my your blood, I would have stayed dead."

He sighed and smiled. "The incident enabled me to do what I had always dreamed of doing, to take my place at your side as your Chevalier and companion, and I must say, it has been, by a wide margin, the happiest time of my life."

Yuki stared down at him, eyes glossy with tears.

"But why didn't you tell me who you were?" she asked, now sounding more emotional than angry.

He glanced up Yuki. "I admit, my reasons for lying about my identity were partially, if not mostly selfish."

"What you mean?"

"Would you have – ," he paused and sighed, "could you have loved me if you thought of me as the lowly gardener? I know that generally women have better sense than to fall in love with men that they truly think of as inferior." Freddie slowly looked up at her. "I wanted you to see me as your equal, as you seemed to do for that one moment, the day I was banished."

"Freddie -" she said breathlessly.

He bowed his head humbly. "The truth is, I am your servant, not because I have received your blood, and certainly not because your clan bought me, but because I love you. Nothing will ever change that, but if you ask me to leave you, I will obey."

Haji unconsciously reached for Saya's hand.

Yuki gazed down at her Chevalier, tears streaming down her face as she extended her hand out to him, palm up. Apparently familiar with the ancient gesture, the elder Chevalier kissed her wrist.

"You know," she said sternly, retracting her hand and putting her fists to her hips, "you're still a lying sack of shit," her tone suddenly lightened, "- but not in a bad way."

* * *

Their nightly ritual had existed for quite some time, though it had evolved a little over the years. Saya changed into a sleeveless top and pajama shorts, as Haji kept his back to her, pulling her sword from his cello case, and, once she was dressed, propping it up beside the bed.

Since they had gotten engaged only two things had changed. For the first time ever, it occurred to her to feel guilty about his having to spend the whole night with nothing to do but stare at her through the darkness. That wasn't to say that she minded, there was a certain flattering comfort in knowing he was watching her, but at the same time, she imagined that it must have been remarkably boring.

She had never been very good at perceiving his true feelings, when it came to her.

Despite his assurances that he was perfectly happy with his current nightly occupation, she suggested, and later virtually insisted that he find something to read. Gladdened by the idea that she had his comfort in mind, a relatively new development in their relationship, he was happy to oblige, though the book was often abandoned sometime after she actually fell asleep, so he could resume his favorite pastime.

Only one other thing had changed about their nightly routine. He always gave her a chaste, though not at all unaffectionate kiss before she got in bed. Though appreciated by both, those kisses had a habit of making them both a little disappointed that the other hadn't taken the initiative to push it at least a little further.

Just after they had performed this nightly ritual, Haji sat in his chair on the other side of the room and Saya nestled into the covers, only to remove all but the top sheet a few moments later, due to the tropical heat. She turned to her Chevalier, and watched as he pulled out his book.

"What are you going to read tonight?"

He smirked subtly. "Les Trois Mousquetaires, it has been a while since I have read it."

She smiled. "I taught you how to read with that book."

"And it has been one of my favorites ever since."

She settled back into bed for a little over a minute before cracking an eye and peering toward her Chevalier, catching him staring at her over the top of the pages. She would have smiled at this, if not for the forlorn look he had been giving her. She knew that Haji had to be feeling something quite intensely before she could see it on his face.

"Haji, is something wrong?" she asked as she sat up.

"No."

"Are you sure? You've seemed so distant and extra-quiet for the past few days, you're almost acting like you did when I didn't remember who you were. You can tell me, Haji. Remember our deal about secrets?"

He hesitated for several seconds and broke eye contact before he spoke. "You like him."

"Who?"

"Solomon," he almost choked on the name.

"I do not!" she spat back childishly.

His tone remained completely even and calm, though somehow that made it all the more heartrending. "Saya," he paused and swallowed nervously, "If you ever want me to leave you," he paused again, and then forced himself to look at her, "You need only ask."

"Oh Haji -" her throat tightened at the idea that he had been thinking this way. She flew across the room to his side. "I never want you to leave me," she threw her arms around him, "and even if I did _like_ him, it doesn't matter, because I _love_ you."

Her other Chevalier, sitting not ten feet outside the bedroom door, once again "unintentionally" eavesdropping, heard this and grinned to himself, taking note of her semantics. She hadn't said _it wouldn't matter_, which would have sounded more like straightforward conjecture, but rather she had said _it doesn't matter_, which sounded much less hypothetical, implying that she actually admitted to liking him. From Solomon's perspective, this was considerable progress.

Haji's eyes lowered_. If only that were true,_ _if only it didn't matter_, he thought silently before his attention was claimed by her lips on his. Her fingers buried themselves in his ponytail, kissing him as passionately as she knew how.

She leaned back and thought for a moment, recalling what he had said earlier that day, when she had first awoken.

"Haji, come to bed with me."

Solomon's eyes widened in distress.

Haji was silent for a moment. "Saya…"

"It's alright, I trust you."

He still hesitated.

"Please Haji."

He gave a silent sigh of resignation, he was never any good at saying no to her. She smirked at him as she got into bed, watching as he paced across the floor to the other side.

"You're getting into bed wearing a shirt and slacks?" she giggled.

"I do not own any night clothes," he stated.

"That's all right, you don't need any."

Solomon nearly rose out of his chair upon hearing this.

Haji's lingering concept of Victorian propriety caused him to hesitate yet again. He actually blushed slightly as he began unbuttoning his shirt, not so much because he was uncomfortable with her seeing him in a state of undress, but because she was watching so intently. Once he had finally removed all but a pair of unassuming underwear, she peeled back the sheet, motioning for him to get into bed.

He slipped in slowly, as if it were a hot bath and settled, almost awkwardly against his pillow, a few inches separating him from his Queen. It went without saying that as a man who hadn't slept in over a hundred years, he didn't spend much time in beds. Once he had finally reached something close to comfort, he simply watched her contently, knowing she was only pretending to be asleep.

Her eyes opened and she rolled over onto her side to face him.

"I'm not tired."

He felt his own heart rate increase and it took him a moment to respond. "You should rest."

"I was asleep until three this afternoon."

He thought for a few seconds. "Let me play for you, until you fall asleep," he said softly, a mild eagerness to try out his newly restored hand making it slightly easier for him to leave her side. He moved to get out of bed but immediately found that his slender wrist was tightly ensnared in her petite fingers. His resolve wavered when she looked up at him, her lips slightly pursed, her eyes with an enticing glint.

She pulled him almost forcefully back into bed until he was lying beside her, much closer than before, nestling her body against him. He exhaled in a subtly shaky breath as the delicate texture of her naked shoulders and legs pressed against him, her warmth seeming to seep through his skin, melting away the icy facade he had always used as his last line of defense against his love for her. It took every last ounce of Haji's remarkable self-control to resist, but when she placed a feather-light kiss on the center of his neck, he instantly seized her lips and body greedily, kissing her as if he was starved for her, unsure if he had allowed himself to do it, or if his body had acted with out his permission. She cooed appreciatively as he consumed her, on some level, knowing that these were the feelings he didn't know how to put into words. Reverent and ravenous, his kisses had an intensity that was certainly a result of having spent the past hundred and fifty years passionately, albeit quietly in love with her, but until recently, these feelings had no outlet other than fighting by her side and the occasional chaste hug. And now, here she was, arms around him, pinned between his body and the bed, returning his kisses with nearly equal enthusiasm, as if she was his for the taking.

But he was all too aware that this was not so. He pulled away and she leaned toward him, reluctant to release his lips.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have."

"Its okay Haji. I know you wouldn't do anything that I would regret. I trust you."

_She trusts me,_ his mind echoed as their lips met again. _She trusts me_. His hand began to prowl beyond the curve of her hip.

They had been this far a few times before, until he did something unexpected, though not entirely surprising or unwelcome.

Solomon sat motionless in his chair, made unbelievably tense by the rustling of bed sheets and lack of conversation coming from the other room. He seriously considered bursting through the door to put a stop to it, on grounds of the severe repercussions that would occur as a result of what he feared they were about to do. He only hesitated because he knew that to do such a thing would certainly precipitate not only extreme embarrassment on all sides, but violence would be likely as well.

All thoughts of interference, or anything else, suddenly vanished from his mind as his consciousness was seized by a voluptuous, feminine gasp. The vibrations of her voice reverberated until they seemed physically palpable, running through out his entire body in the form of a warm chill.

To his great relief, he did not hear the distinct cadence of intercourse, that in mind, it was fairly clear what they were doing. Nevertheless, it did inspire an absolutely maddening combination of jealous resentment and carnal fascination.

He knew that Saya would have been mortified and Haji would have been furious if either had realized that he could hear them. Still, for some reason, he couldn't quite force himself to go for a walk, though he knew it would have been the most prudent course of action.

Instead, he sat, riveted to the spot, his mind bewitched by her exquisite vociferations, unable to keep himself from imagining that it was his own lips muffling those erotic sighs, his own touch causing them. He nearly came completely undone with her final climactic cry, though his fantasy was abruptly dissipated by the infrequent, faint masculine groans that began soon after it.

Profoundly irritated by his situation, he attempted to regain control over his mind.

_Patience, patience._

_Soon I will have my chance. In the end, the ultimate prize will be mine, and I will make her remember those "sweet dreams about a future together." Let him enjoy his time with her, it will likely be over soon. _

He took in a deep breath, tuning out the noises until they finally came to an end, replaced by complete silence.

_Sweet dreams, Saya._

_Sweet dreams._

* * *

End of Act II: The Snow Queen

* * *

Preview of Act III: Knights who Dedicate Themselves to Love.

The copse corps threat has been eliminated, but the war for Saya is far from over. With her wedding day and _special night_ now eminent, she must finally choose between the man who devoted his life to her, and the man who gave up everything for her. With every love triangle, there must be a loser…

...

Ps. I am thinking about doing a separate one-shot prequel to this story, involving Haji and Solomon clashing at the Miyagusuku tomb, the day of Saya's awakening. Just a thought.


	28. Act III: Knights who Dedicate

This takes place several months after the previous chapter. This chapter contains some mild adult themes.

The next few chapters will be making very extensive use of flashbacks, the beginning and end of which will be denoted with a

…

Got it? Cool, just making sure.

* * *

_Knights Who Dedicate Themselves to Love_

Images of long dead Chevaliers, snapshots of battles that never took place, of coming back to life at the bottom of the ocean, of walking alone, of rain and wind, were suddenly overcome by another scene.

The feeling of the cold, damp stone floor seeped through the bottom of her ragged red tunic, but some how, her skin had become numb to cold, it was an inescapable part of her reality.

Inescapable was the nature of this reality, thick stone, with several thin windows. Most of the light in the dim room came from a corner of the ceiling that had crumbled away, only patched by a coarse mesh of iron bars.

Everything was dark and gray, everything except the roses that spilled in through the windows, and carpeted much of the walls and floor.

She ran to one of the small windows and managed to poke her head out, but it was too narrow to allow her shoulders through. She peered helplessly down towards the earth and her heart jumped when she saw that there was someone sitting on the steps, just outside the tower.

She screamed for help, but got no response. At first, it appeared to be a somewhat forlorn-looking young boy with short, dark hair, wearing a blue and white sailor suit. She knew who it really was almost instantly.

Even though she knew it was no use, she cried out for help again, still not even getting an upward glance, until finally the girl stood, and began to walk away.

"Wait! Take me with you! Take me with you!"

She watched as her sister began to shrink into the distance.

Another person appeared at the edge of the ruins, a man in a dark colored suit, so far away, she could barely make him out, but still knew who it was. Her sister approached him, they linked arms and disappeared together.

"Not _him_. Why does have to be _him_…" Saya mumbled helplessly.

She sank away from the window, desperately wanting to cry, but somehow, her body simply refused to produce either tears or sobs.

Out of sheer, unintentional compulsion, she began to sing a familiar, hopeless song.

Saya gasped so deeply that she nearly choked and found that the tears she had been unable to conjure in the dream were streaming down her cheeks in reality. She panted hard as she sat up in bed, rocking back and forth slightly with each breath.

_Where am I?_

_Where's Haji?_

She scrambled to reach the bedside lamp, fumbling slightly before she managed to turn it on.

She was in a guestroom at the Goldschimidt's estate, in France.

_Where's Haji? _her mind asked again as her eyes darted around the room, searching for his familiar figure, and finding he wasn't there. Her memory, somewhat impaired by sleepiness, finally gave her the explanation she sought.

_Oh, right._

She sank back into bed and rested a moment as the adrenaline finally subsided.

_I wasn't Diva. I was still myself. _

_I guess I was in Diva's place._

The dream was deeply disturbing on several levels. She glanced around the room again, admitting to herself that she could really use the company of her Chevalier at that moment, but neither was there. One was kept away by tradition, the other by common decency.

She glanced at the clock as she turned out the light. 3:38am was emblazoned in red across the digital display.

_Less than twelve hours to go._

Less than twelve hours until she and her _most_ beloved Chevalier would be joined in marriage.

Such thoughts, combined with the lack of someone to comfort her from her nightmare, were hardly conducive to sleep. However, she soon decided to avoid thinking of her dream, and keep her thoughts on tomorrow, or today, rather…

_What if people show up that didn't R.S.V.P? Oh god! We'll run out of food! _

_That would be horrific! Running out of food at a party! Dad would be so ashamed!_

_No. Don't worry about that. Mao's managing the caterers, I'm sure she's thought of that, and there's no way the caterers will cross her. Even if they don't know she practically runs the Mafia in Okinawa and Kagoshima, she's still not the sort of person you disobey._

_Still, I feel like there's something I'm forgetting, something I needed to take care of._

_Lets see…_

_Who's picking up the flowers?… David and Dave. No problem._

_What about the cake?… that's being delivered._

_What was it then? Was it some tradition?_

_Lets see… I have a sixpence…my ring is old… my dress is new…I borrowed those clip on pearl earrings form Yuki - um, I mean, mom…_

… _I don't have anything blue…Where am I going to find something blue? I don't have any blue stuff! I hate blue!… I guess it's not a big deal… I don't believe in luck anyway… _

… _I'll never get back to sleep… I wish he was here. He would hold me and tell me not to worry about anything. Somehow, I believe it when he says it._

_But the groom isn't supposed to see the bride before the wedding. _

_Stupid traditions. I don't believe in luck anyway… Wait... Do I? I guess luck and destiny are kind of the same thing…_

She pulled one of the pillows down from the head of the bed, placing it parallel to her body and let out an anxious sigh as she nestled against it, arms around it, attempting to wring some comfort from it's downy form.

A memory, only a few weeks old, enveloped her mind.

She recalled it with perfect clarity. The sound of his breath as he hovered over her for a moment, sweeping his hand across his face to clear away a few damp blonde locks, his half-hooded eyes seeming to see right through her as their red blaze faded to a calming green. He took his place beside her, immediately sliding his arm under her back and pulling her close, pressing her tightly against the side of his body. The memory of how it had felt to be held by him was dazzlingly vivid, even more so than the events that had preceded it. It was as if each sense had recorded those moments, how the heat of his skin was almost overwhelming, how she had draped her leg over his, how the sweat seemed to glue their bodies together, how she could feel his heart rate slowly decrease against her ear and face, how his breath caused her bangs to flutter when he told her that he loved her and asked her to marry him instead.

…

She lay beside him in silence for several seconds before she finally forced herself to peel her body away from his. She placed a sheet across her chest, holding it in place under her arms, and sat up in bed, placing one foot on the floor.

"You should get dressed, Haji will be back soon," she said as tonelessly as possible.

But he was not about to give up yet, not when he was so close.

"Come with me, Saya."

She said nothing as she stepped away from the bed, pulling the white top sheet along with her. She wrapped it around herself just as she had done when she had woken up in his apartment thirty years ago, only this time the sheet was stained with passion and a few drops of blood.

"Saya, we could raise our daughters together." Suddenly he was standing directly behind her.

"Please, just get dressed," she pleaded, almost in a whimper.

Solomon sighed as he placed a hand comfortingly on her shoulder. "Saya, I realize that you must feel a great deal of obligation to Haji, but he was the one who chose to live his life that way, not you. Do not let someone else's choices rule your life, you must follow your own heart. I know that you do not want to hurt him, but you have already spent far too long living your life for others. I am sure he understands that."

He slowly put his arms around her, pressing his still-bare body against her back, leaning his head over her shoulder and pressing the side of his face to hers, closing his eyes as he spoke even more softly and sweetly than usual. "Let me give you the happiness that you have denied yourself, let me show you the world like you have always wanted, let me show you all the wonders created by the same God that created us, let me show you all the wonders created by the mortals whom you have spent all these years protecting. We can travel all the way up until the children are born, then we'll make our home in some peaceful paradise, anywhere you like. We can live exactly as we please, we can make our own destiny. You will never want for anything, material or otherwise, nor will our children, and nor will I, for that matter, because to be with you – that is all I could ever want or need. I would always protect you from any danger or conflict, you will never need to worry about anything. You can finally forget about the sorrow and pain of your past, because we can build a future, a perfect future, together." His voice lowered to a soft whisper. "You will be happy, I promise you this, because I will spend the rest of eternity making sure of it. Please, let me make all those sweet dreams come true, we have all the time in the world now."

Her eyes closed, causing a pair of tears to roll down her cheeks.

…

Shortly after that, she shattered the heart and hopes of a man who loved her with every fiber of his being.

She flopped over in bed, rolling away from the pillow.

_No! I am not going to feel guilty about that. Not now._

_He's done a lot for me and I owe him a great deal, but I don't owe him myself._

_I am not going to feel guilty about it. _

_It's too late to go back now._

_And I'm glad._

* * *

Joel Goldschmidt VI was generally not a pushy man, but he would except no refusal of his offer to pay for the wedding, having reasoned that this was his responsibility by tradition, since his ancestor was essentially the father of the bride.

Having been forbidden to pay for anything had ironically made the bride and groom all the more conscious about saving money whenever possible, so the reception was to take place on the grounds of the Goldschmidt's chateaux. The bride and groom, being over a century old, also had somewhat old-fashioned views as to how a wedding should be conducted, so ceremony itself would take place at a quaint old church a half kilometer down the road.

The members of the wedding party itself were busy making their preparations in the various lavish guestrooms back at the Goldscmidt's estate. The female members of the party, the two bridesmaids, and the mother of the bride, had congregated together in an eager, tittering mob around the bride. The male members of the party, the groom, two groomsmen, and the brother of the bride, who was to give her away, were making no such overzealous display, and seemed content to dress and preen in the privacy of their own guestrooms. Two of them were particularly grateful for this moment of solitude, as they both had a great deal on their minds.

Solomon turned to the mirror as he affixed a red rose to his lapel. Once he had accomplished this, he briefly glanced up, checking the presentablility his hair and face, before running a comb once more through his now uniformly blonde hair.

…

The choice of where the rendezvous would take place had been left to Solomon, as if they were following the rules of a formal duel, the challenged chooses the grounds. Technically, Saya had asked him.

He had chosen a hotel, neutral territory. Naturally, he had picked the nicest suite in the nicest hotel in Naha.

It would be over two hours until Saya even arrived, but those hours would be devoted to the preparation that should go into such a special, premeditated sexual encounter.

He had spent a good deal of thought, time and money on atmosphere, with a large bouquet of red roses on each of the bedside tables and not-yet-lit tea lights scattered on every flat surface of the room except for the bed and the floor. A bottle of red wine and two glasses sat on the dresser.

He had reasoned that in terms of romantic atmosphere, 'cliché' is just another word for something that has been tried, tested, and found to work well. All he had left to do was bathing and grooming, but just before entering the bathroom to do this, an unexpected knock came at the door.

_Perhaps she just couldn't wait, _he mocked himself in thought.

He opened the door to Freddie and Yuki.

"Hello," he said politely, his surprise at seeing them quite evident, "to what do I owe the -"

"Now, now, no need for that, we know you're busy, but this'll only take a moment," Freddie said, virtually barging his way past his younger brother.

"Wait," he said, confused, "why are you here?"

"To do you a favor," Freddie answered.

Solomon shook his head. "For some reason, that statement is not very comforting, coming from you."

"Oh hush," Freddie chirped with a downward swish of his hand, briefly reverting to his abandoned feminine mannerisms. "Now Solomon, a third of your body is made up of corpse corps grafts, is it not?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with -"

"Surely you must know that though the grafts saved your life, they also limit your life span. Sun dodging will only _delay_ the inevitable thorn."

"I am aware of that, will you please get to the point," he said exasperatedly.

Freddie smirked knowingly. "Has it ever occurred to you that Yuki's blood almost certainly has the power to cleanse you of this curse?"

"I suppose it -" he stopped mid sentence, his attention turning to Yuki, who had just used a small pocketknife to cut open her hand.

She extended her arm and offered him her bleeding palm.

Solomon glanced at his older brother.

"Go ahead, drink up!"

"Fresh-squeezed, pulp-free!" Yuki giggled.

It all seemed so abrupt, and so oddly timed, he couldn't help but wonder what ulterior motives could be behind this gesture.

He hesitated. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

"Of course not!" Freddie said innocently, "just looking out for my little brother."

He still hesitated.

"C'mon! Is that so hard to believe? Now go on, take your medicine!"

He was almost sure that his older brother was hiding something, but at the same time, he couldn't think of any good reason to refuse.

Solomon took a step toward Yuki's extended arm, almost gingerly putting his lips to her palm and slurped in some of the blood that had pooled there.

He stepped back. It was almost sickeningly sweet, and thought it was warm in temperature, it had a strange cooling effect as it ran down his throat, somehow evoking a distant memory of his mother's hands on his forehead as a sick child. He twitched in a shiver as it spread throughout his bloodstream, and suddenly, the subtle, dull pains he had learned to ignore were gone.

Solomon looked up to see Freddie and Yuki smiling delightedly at him.

"Oooohh! I was hoping that would happen!" Freddie crooned.

Solomon furrowed his brows slightly. "What do you mean?"

"Look for yourself," Yuki commanded, gesturing to the mirror.

He stared at his reflection for several seconds before it hit him.

Solomon raised his hand to his left cheek, touching the perfectly smooth skin in disbelief, as if it was just an illusion.

"Originally we were going to wait to do this, but Yuki saw an old picture of you, and insisted that we try to give you back your pretty face before your rendezvous with Saya."

"I want my daughter to have something nice to look at!" Yuki giggled.

The ancient Chevalier took a step closer and examined the change in his younger brother more carefully. He lightly patted the black hair, still present on the left side of Solomon's head.

"Hmm, hair is made up of dead cells, I guess it figures that it wouldn't change immediately, but I'm sure it will grow in blonde, or I guess you could just change it now."

Solomon turned back toward the mirror, and with a minimal amount of effort, the straight black became wavy gold.

"I look like _me_ again," he murmured.

"Don't you have anything to say to my wife?" Freddie prodded.

"Thank you, Yuki."

"No problem!" she said cheerfully.

"Now, I think we should probably leave you to your preparations," Freddie declared as he and Yuki walked arm in arm toward the door.

The ever-polite Solomon escorted his uninvited guests out.

Freddie looked over his shoulder as they left. "Don't forget to fuck!" he sang teasingly, loud enough for half the hotel to hear.

Solomon went back to his preparations, entering the bathroom, undressing to bathe, now in an even better mood than before as he admired how his legs, left arm and upper left torso were no longer made of that foreign, pale substance.

_A truly fortuitous turn of events._

_The thorn is no longer a threat. I can truly offer her a normal life now. I can journey with her to all the sunny places of the world with out having to hide behind that ridiculous umbrella! _

As the water ran into the tub, his attention was drawn to the mirror over the sink.

He gazed at the reflection. Solomon was fairly indifferent towards that face, but nevertheless, he was grateful to have it back. He would take any advantage he could get.

_After all, this is the face she blushed and stared at in Lycee. _

He exhaled deeply as he slowly slipped into the steamy water, hoping it might be enough to calm his excitement to something a little more suave and gentlemanly. He was anxious in every sense of the word, in that he was both beside himself with eager anticipation, but also a little nervous about how the evening would go. That wasn't to say that he was nervous about the evening's more obvious inevitabilities, though he conceded that it had been a while, he was by no means an inexperienced man. In the old days, he had never been one to forgo the advantages of his situation, and being breath-snatchingly handsome and obscenely wealthy, that included an unending supply of attractive women. But he had given up the short-lived trysts with gold-digging floozies decades ago, mainly because he had begun to find them pointless and unsatisfying.

No, whatever nervousness he felt was due to the broader implications of the evening. Tonight, he hoped to finally and permanently steal the heart that he had coveted for so long.

_She has feelings for me. She has since that first night in Lycee, I could see the budding affection in her eyes as clearly as any word in print. I suppose it is understandable that she would repress it when she found out who I was allied with, god knows I tried to. And when I swore myself to her, from what she told me, she refused my offer in order to focus her final weeks of consciousness on destroying Diva._

_But Diva is dead, her mission is over, I have spent over three decades proving my loyalty to her and her family, and after tonight, she will never have to sleep again. _

_All the obstacles have been removed, except one._

_I suppose it is my own fault, for leaving her alone with Haji for so long, I should have insisted on taking my place at her side earlier. How was I to know that after a century of pining for her in silence, he would finally work up some gall in those few days?_

_But it is of little matter, it shouldn't be hard to make her see that her relationship with Haji is clearly just based on habit and obligation. What a mistake that would be, for her to marry him. She could never be happy with him, so dreary and anhedonic, completely devoid of any vivacity or fun. _

_I can make her happy. I did that night in Lycee. Lord, why did I not tell Van to just buzz off? _

_I can make her happier than Haji ever could. Regardless of how accustomed she has become to his presence, all he can offer her is the constant reminder of her tragic past… but I … I can make her forget all that. I know I can._

_I did that night in New York. She would have been mine if Haji hadn't shown up. _

_As long as I can get her to open up to me, to be honest with herself, I am sure things will turn out favorably._

_It is already predetermined that tonight, I will have access to her physical center, the real question is if she will allow me into her emotional center._

…

His attention returned to the mirror.

_I suppose it was foolish of me to think that my appearance might make a difference to her, she's not a shallow person._

He sighed deeply, wiping his face clean of all emotion save serene confidence, a mask that had become second nature to him during his time running a corporate empire.

_Emotions will be running high today, but tears, whether of joy or otherwise, should be reserved for the bride, and possibly her mother. This is her day, I am only an observer. I will be calm, if only for the sake of maintaining peace, and keeping the focus on her, where it belongs._

_Today, my feelings are better kept hidden until later tonight, when appropriate privacy is achieved. _

* * *

Haji's mind was engulfed in overwhelming thoughts, such that actually threatened to burst through his legendary composure. He tried to keep his mind on the task at hand as stood before the mirror and ran a comb through his hair, the old tortoiseshell implement so old and reliable that the teeth were actually worn down from use.

The sight of that reflection, the image of himself, hair down and wearing a frock coat – it was impossible not to feel nostalgic. The sight of his pink rose boutonnière in the foreground of the glass called his mind to a particularly distant recollection, a different reflection he had once seen, one he would never forget, as long as he lived.

It was himself as a twelve-year-old boy, cheeks wet with tears as a comparatively carefree young woman held him tightly against her. The memory overtook his senses, the smell of the Bulgarian rose oil she used to wear, the sound of her comforting words wrapped in the soft hiss of the rain outside, the feel of the pink muslin against his face, how what was soft and yielding in his subsequent fantasies was actually hard and austere, due to the whalebone just beneath her bodice. He had turned away, regarding their reflection in a nearby mirror, the rose he had just brought her sitting in a vase beside it.

But that soul warming memory was also coupled with the moments just prior to it, he would never forget the look she had given him. He had cried because of it, tears his dignity had kept at bay until she gave him that look of pride-withering pity, made all the more palpable by her endearing innocence and her obvious desire to help, without knowing how. It eroded the barrier around his emotions like nothing else, though he had gained more practice at hiding them since then.

…

His eyes lowered. "Please don't look at me like that."

He was a little surprised that he had been able to say it so evenly.

"You'll never have to wait for me again, and we can finally have a family. This is for us. It'll be over soon and – and then we can just forget about it."

Saya was trying to convince herself just as much as her companion, and he knew it.

"I know."

They were both silent as the clock in the lobby began to chime it's announcement of midnight, the agreed upon time. Haji leaned down to give her a quick peck on the lips, but she pulled him into a long, passionate kiss.

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you," his voice wavered as he held as tightly as he could without hurting her, as if she were about to slip through his fingers.

He released her as the final chime sounded, picking up his cello case and in spite of every feeling in his body, he began to walk down the hall. He listened for the sound of the door opening, and glanced back at her one last time as he turned the corner, catching her taking a deep breath before turning the knob.

His pace quickened to just shy of a jog. He didn't know where he was going, but for Haji, there was only one thing to do at such a time.

He was tempted to set himself up just outside the hotel, where Saya would be able to hear him play, but he wasn't one for such dramatics.

He finally reached a park a few blocks away, sat on a bench beneath a gold-tinged streetlight, and began to play with more passion than he ever had before, or ever would again.

Even his instrument took pity on him, the strings held out, no matter how harshly the bow ground against them, no matter how much furious jealously he poured into the music.

_I will keep my word, _his mind pleaded with his heart. _I will not become violent, I will not interfere, I will not return before the appointed time. _

_I have no right to resent it. I strayed once before, a fruitless search for something that could distract me from my pain and guilt, following the incident in Vietnam._

…_Right now, the one woman I have ever, or could ever love, is in the arms of that traitorous libertine._

But the bitterness and jealousy actually wasn't the worst part. It was the anxiety.

_He will ask her to break off our engagement and marry him instead. I know he will. _

_He did say that he would do no more than was requested of him, he gave me his word._

_What value is there in the word of a traitor? None, whatsoever._

_He will ask her and she will have to choose. It will not be a matter of who she loves, but who she prefers and whatever she feels for him, she will surely realize it tonight._

_Regardless, I must respect her feelings, and accept her decision, what ever it may be._

His grip on the bow tightened even more.

… _Seeing her with him, marrying him, raising a family with him… But I will bare it if she asks it of me. I must._

_I must._

_Still, I fear I may find what my 'limit' truly is._

He could feel the moisture accumulating at the corner of his eye.

_Saya._

_Don't go._

…

He once again attempted to keep his himself occupied, tying his hair-ribbon in a bow under his collar, becoming his cravat once again, perhaps subconsciously hoping to evoke memories of their past together.

Lastly, he applied the final piece to the ensemble, the pink-rose boutonnière.

_I will not be ruled by my emotions._

_My mission is to be by her side – quietly._

_Even if that mission is about to…_

_I will not be ruled by my emotions._

* * *

You are correct. I did NOT say to whom she is getting married. Did I mention that I'm evil? Don't get too upset, ALL will be revealed. Like I said, the next few chapters will be making extensive use of flashbacks, and needless to say, there will be several more pertaining to that 'fateful night.'


	29. Something Blue

Saya sat in a chair by a mirror as a pair of strangers fussed with her hair and makeup, her rigid stillness not just out of a desire to aviod getting a mascara brush jabbed in her eye, but also due to the subtle tenseness that had gripped her body since early that morning.

Aka and Ruka were standing around, waiting for their turn in a separate nearby guestroom as Yuki entered, wearing what looked like a pale blue and white, floral print classic lady's suit, only with a long, flowing skirt.

"I love your dress!" Ruka commended.

"Yeah, it's way hip!" Aka added.

"Oh, thanks, I'm told it's hot off the runwa-" Yuki's voice trailed off as an object on the table caught her attention. It appeared to be a small jewelry box of black ebony, inlayed with an intricate mother of pearl image of a large bird, appearing somewhat like a peacock, only with a curved beak and talons.

"The crest of our clan," she murmured quietly.

"Did you say something?" Aka asked absentmindedly.

Yuki's tone and expression suddenly became more casual. "What a pretty box!" she exclaimed as she lifted the lid. Her eyes widened as a tinkling melody began to play, she immediately recognized the first few bars of her ancient lullaby, the tune Saya referred to as _Diva's Song. _Her eyes fell upon the contents of the music box, a pair of necklaces each with a thick, rope-like gold chain, and a shimmering, princess-cut red gem in its pendant.

"They're our _mommy necklaces,"_ Ruka explained, as she pulled one of them out and clasped it around her sister's neck.

"We only wear them at super-special occasions," Aka added as she did the same.

Yuki stared blankly at the gem around Ruka's neck.

"Hey, obaachan..."

Yuki was silent and continued to stare.

"Hey obaachan," Ruka repeated.

She finally looked up. "Oh, you mean me?"

"We've been wondering, and we're not asking you to actually do this or anything, but would it be _possible_ for you to -" Ruka paused and fingered the pendant around her neck, "to bring our mother back by putting your blood on these stones?"

"We're just asking out of curiosity, of course," Aka added. "We know that to actually do it would be a really bad idea, our uncles told us about her – her problems. We would never _dream _of really doing it, but for the sake of argument, would it be _possible_?"

Yuki thought for a moment. "I'm afraid not, I'm fairly sure that it only works if you have all of the remains, from what I understand, her remains were destroyed in the bombing of the MET," she sighed. "Where did you get those necklaces anyway?"

"Our uncle Nathan gave them to us on our twentieth birthday," said Aka.

"What ever happened to him anyway?" Ruka asked rhetorically.

The attention of the mother and two maids shifted toward the door as Saya entered, though still in her slip and chemise, her hair was now done up in an elaborate bridal coiffeur, held in place by several decorative combs, each with a few miniature fresh roses wired to it. The veil had yet to be affixed.

"Aka, Ruka, they're ready for you now."

The girls paused to admire the hairdresser's work of art on their way out.

Saya gingerly patted the side of her hair. "It's got so much hairspray on it, I feel like I'm wearing a motorcycle helmet."

No sooner than the twins had exited, Yuki turned to her daughter. "Saya, there's something I need to talk to you about."

Saya giggled. "Are you going to explain _'the naughty thing in the naughty place' _again?"

Yuki smirked. "Of course not, a woman in your condition already knows all about that!"

Saya's eyes widened. "How did you -"

"A mother has her ways," Yuki declared smugly.

_Oh yeah, I guess it figures she would know, since it was originally instigated by Natha-Fred-whatever._

"Now Saya, I know you and your husband to be will be departing immediately after the wedding, and I guess you'll probably be travelling until the babies are born, so there's a few things I must explain, in case I don't get a chance later… Our gestation period is approximately one-hundred and twenty-five weeks."

"I don't think Diva was pregnant that long."

"I know, from what I've been told, her children were removed from her body, and were born prematurely due to the trauma of sensing their mother's death."

Saya thought back. _They did come out of the cocoons only minutes after she died._

"However, if you carry the babies to term, they will be born vaginally, the cocoon-like placenta will dissolve internally."

"Oh."

"And I should also mention that when you lactate, it won't be milk."

Saya gave her mother a blank, confused stare for a moment, before grimacing in disgust.

Yuki laughed. "_Damn_! You really _do_ think like a human! Come now, it isn't milk that our kind needs in order to grow strong!"

Meanwhile, a Chevalier approached the door and reached for the knob, only to find his wrist in the painfully firm grip of his elder brother, dressed almost identically to himself, save the white rose in his lapel.

"Now _you_ really shouldn't be here," Freddie said sternly.

Solomon let out an exasperated sigh. "Nathan, can't you mind your own business for one minute?"

The ancient Chevalier grinned mischievously. "Surely you can see how out of character that would be, and please don't call me by that name in public, I would like to avoid drama, seeing as it's rude to take attention off the bride."

"Regardless, I need to speak with Saya. I believe it's important, and it cannot wait until later."

Freddie groaned. "Fine, but make it quick, it'll be a _scandal_ if anyone other than Yuki finds out that _you_ went to see her right before the ceremony."

The elder of the two brothers vanished as Solomon knocked at the door.

"Come in."

He opened the door and felt his breath get caught in his throat the moment he saw her. Visibly bashful and nervous, blushing and slightly made up - she looked just like she did the night they met. He felt his heart swell, and his lips tightened into a smile.

"Solomon!" she squeaked, her hands flying over her chest in an act of instinctive modesty.

He was momentarily confused by the gesture, until he realized that technically, she was in her underwear. He chuckled at her bashfulness, needless to say, he had seen her wearing much less, not to mention the fact that her slip and chemise covered more of her body than her ordinary street clothes.

"I apologize, but you did say 'come in.'"

"Sorry, I thought you were Aka and Ruka," she murmured timidly, her eyes briefly fixing on his red boutonnière.

…

There was a single long-stem red rose in a clear vase just outside the bedroom door. A promise of things to come.

Saya stood in the sitting-room of the hotel suite, attempting to settle her nerves in preparation for what was to happen behind that bedroom door.

She had actually devoted a large amount of thought to her apparel, after all, what does one wear to an occasion like this? There were too many factors to consider, in particular, she had to maintain the appearance of apathy, for Haji's sake. Originally, she had settled on simply wearing her regular clothes, but had subsequently decided that their removal would get in the way of the expedience she was hoping for.

Her now waist-length hair was gathered in a loose braid, and she wore a white cotton nightgown, pink ribbon woven in and out of the eyelet lace round its color, gathered and tied in a drooping bow in the center. Over it was a blush-pink silk robe, the same garment that Haji had brought to cover her immediately after she immerged from the Miyagusuku tomb. Beneath that was only skin. She had reasoned that the sooner she was naked, the sooner it would be over with.

She was nervous, but she had a hard time placing why. She was fairly sure it wasn't the act it self. Actual intercourse wouldn't be especially foreign to her, simply the next step in a progression she was already familiar with. She and Haji had become experts in the subtle art of _making love without making love_, and had spent the past few months of her peaceful life at Kai's house, acting like lovesick teenagers, making out in every shadow, constantly sneaking off together, never letting any prolonged period of privacy pass without fooling around. But even in such moments, there had been obvious limits, all of which would have been broken long ago if there were not so much at stake, but of course, Haji was nothing if not supremely patient and respectful, in all areas of their life together.

After a brief, and indeed rare moment of introspection, she realized that Solomon was most likely the cause of her uneasiness. As oblivious as she often was to such things, she knew he loved her, after all, he had told her several times, and seemed to take every possible opportunity to remind her. Somehow, that made the arrangement even more awkward than if he had been an indifferent stranger.

She hadn't even allowed herself to think about the possible aftermath.

Saya took another deep breath as she opened the bedroom door and waded into the dim, flickering light of the bedroom.

Her eyes traveled around the room, over two enormous bouquets of red roses, and dozens of lit candles.

She blushed at the thought that all this was for her and was slightly startled when she noticed Solomon standing in the shadows.

"Good evening," he said with a subtle, cordial bow. He wore an especially nice black suit, a red rose in his lapel, and suddenly she felt underdressed.

He slowly made his approach, and it was a few seconds before she noticed what had changed. "Your face!"

He chuckled. "Your mother and stepfather paid me a surprise visit earlier, I think you can guess the rest." He reached down for her hand, grasping it gently by the wrist and bringing it up to his face, pressing her palm to it's left side. "You see, good as new," he said softly.

"Oh," she paused and smiled. "I'm – I'm glad you're better now."

He chuckled again. "Not as glad as I am, to be sure. I was getting quite sick of that hat and umbrella."

The conversation came to an uncomfortable halt.

"Did you set all of this up?" she asked, suddenly desperate to revive the conversation and delay the inevitable, but unable to help feeling stupid as soon as the words left her lips. _Idiot! Of course he set it all up!_

"Yes, you deserve no less," he said with a smile, "however, that -" he gestured to an object propped up by the bedside table, "is not my doing."

It was her sword, conspicuously placed beside the right edge of the bed.

_Haji must have put it there, _she thought. _He must still not trust Solomon not to hurt me._

This wasn't quite the truth. It had been some time since Haji had realized that Solomon would never intentionally harm her. The sword had been placed as a precaution, in case Solomon tried to abduct her again, a very real contingency in Haji's mind.

The conversation had stagnated yet again.

Solomon walked across the room to the table and uncorked the bottle of wine.

"Kai mentioned that you liked this particular vintage," he said as he poured a sophisticatedly small amount into the glasses, offering one to Saya.

Her fingers closed around the cold stem of the glass_. Just this once, please let the wine actually effect me! That is exactly what I need right now!_

He raised his glass. "To our daughters."

Her face flushed at the bold statement, timidly raising her own.

He put his glass to his lips and smiled at her for a moment, before chuckling softly. "I've never seen someone blush after only one sip."

She averted her eyes bashfully as he continued to grin at her.

"I'm sorry, I seem to have embarrassed you," his smile widened even further, "It's just that - you are adorable, in every sense of the word."

The blush faded as she took in the remainder of the glass.

His amused smile faded to an expression of sympathy and concern. "What can I do to make you feel more comfortable?"

She suddenly realized that the conversation only seemed to be intensifying the already emotionally charged situation.

"Can we just stop talking?" she blurted.

_Oh god, that didn't come out right!_ she thought as she caught sight of the triumphant smirk on his face.

Her thoughts raced as he made his way toward her.

_Don't back away, that would just be stupid. I have to get this over with, so I can forget all about it. Just pretend he's Haji. That'll make it easier. _

He stood toe to toe with her for a moment, staring down at her with worshipful pasture-green eyes.

"Saya-"

The sound of it alone took her breath away. Somehow, as he said her name with those sweet, lyrical, longing tones, she knew he wasn't just speaking a word, he was professing his love for her. She didn't realize that the same had always been true with Haji, but he had never been particularly good at expressing himself with spoken words, let alone expressing their hidden meanings.

As Solomon took her in his arms, Saya's thoughts raced back to the only other time he had held her this way. It had been at his New York apartment, just after his attempt to kiss her had been foiled by a hostile, yet classically feminine rejection. That night, she had felt a wave of panic as he grabbed her wrist, thinking there were only two things he might do, depending on what his true motivation was in bringing her there and in her mind, there were only two possibilities. First, that all this was an act of psychological warfare, that he meant to torture her emotionally until he dealt her an untimely execution, or alternatively, that he was genuinely trying to seduce her, that this womanizer had such a profound lack of self-restraint that he would even try to make it with his arch-nemesis. If the former was the case, then surely being slapped by her would bring out his murderous intentions, and if it was the later, then this would certainly be a logical time for him to force himself on her. She couldn't have been more shocked a moment later, when she found that she was neither being strangled nor sexually assaulted. In fact, she found her self in a staunch but gentle embrace, that he was holding her with the tenderness and affection of husband after a long absence, as if his intentions toward her were so true and honorable that he could actually be satisfied with such platonic contact.

And now she found herself in the same arms as she had that night in New York, and found herself thinking the same thing she had back then.

_Perhaps he truly loves me. _

The embrace she now found herself in only differed in that this time, her arms had found their way around him as well.

…

"I know I probably shouldn't be here, but there's something I needed to give you now, as it wont do you much good after the ceremony."

With a flick of his wrist, he produced a blue rose, a peculiarly small bloom for a non-miniature cultivar.

"I heard a rumor that you were lacking in something blue."

He continued as she stared down at the bloom. "This was the only thing I could think of that might suit the occasion, so I drove down to Bordeaux, last night."

"But that must have taken hours -"

"I don't sleep Saya, least of all last night."

He held the flower out a little further and she still hesitated.

_Does he really want me to wear a blue rose? Does he really expect me to take the past so lightly?_

"Diva is dead, Saya. This is just a rare flower," he paused and lowered his eyes, "But if you don't like it…"

For all the evil a blue rose symbolized in her mind, after all the trouble he had gone through, there was no way she could refuse in good conscience. "Alright." _Other than the color, I guess it does fit in with the other flowers in my hair._

He smiled as he placed the tips of his fingers on her chin, tilting it back slightly, and placing the rose over her ear, just as he had the night they met.

…

She felt his fingers on her chin, tilting her head back, eyes closed in anticipation of the first kiss of the evening. Warm lips closed softly against hers.

_Just pretend he's Haji. _She attempted to conjure his image in her mind so as to turn it into a barrier between her and her lover.

But hard as she tried, _Haji_ just wouldn't form.

This wasn't Haji. She was actually surprised at how different he felt, his warm hand now on her cheek, his slightly fuller lips, the surprising comfort of not having to stand on her tiptoes to reach him, not to mention his completely different approach to kissing. No amount of imagination could turn this man into her fiancé.

Her lips remained completely unresponsive as a strange sense of culpability washed over her.

_I didn't come here to enjoy myself. I came here so I could become pregnant. _

Solomon slowly slid his hand up her back to her neck, his face sinking down to allow for a deeper contact, attempting to draw her in, but to no avail. She seemed entirely unwilling to kiss him back.

She could hear disappointment in his sigh as their lips parted.

He took her hand and gave her the deep, weakening stare that had always at least partially succeeded at withering her resolve in the past.

"Saya, you remember the night we first met, don't you?"

She nodded slightly, wanting to look away, but unable to.

He smiled suavely. "When we danced, how did you feel?"

"Why are you asking me this?" she quickly countered, her tone expressing irritation, her look expressing a subtle sense of regret.

"Because I would like to hear your answer," he said with absolute sincerity. "Please tell me."

She finally forced herself to look away. "I don't know, I was happy, I enjoyed it, I guess."

He smiled broadly. "I thought so," he paused. "I would imagine that some might think it strange that you seemed more willing to be intimate with me then, when I was a complete stranger, than now, when we have known each other for years."

She gave him a melancholy glare. Solomon always did have an uncanny talent for rubbing the truth in her face.

He smiled again. "But in our case, that's completely understandable." He paused. "Both of us have had complicated lives and complicated alliances, but what passed between us that evening was so beautifully simple. There was no betrayal, no guilt, no vendetta."

He reached out and gently held her chin between his thumb and index finger as he leaned closer until his face was less than an inch from his. "It was just a man and a woman together, enjoying each other's company."

He closed the distance between them, his approach almost agonizingly slow, intentionally allowing the suspense to build, cunningly forcing her to realize that she wanted his lips against hers.

The final millimeter closed into a languid, yet authoritatively firm kiss.

Their lips snapped apart as he leaned away from her slightly.

"Let tonight be like that," he whispered, his lips still so close that they ghosted over hers as he spoke.

His words echoed in her mind as he delivered another devastating kiss, his arms snugly around her, pressing their two bodies together as if they could never be close enough.

_Just a man and a woman together, enjoying each other's company._

It could have been what he said, or it could have been her own body's long dormant instinct to reproduce, but more likely it was a combination of the two that finally caused her to give in and abandon all pretense of coy reluctance. All thoughts of Haji were banished to the dark corner of her mind where she kept all the other thoughts she didn't want to deal with, rammed into a willfully repressed lead ball, along with Diva, Riku, George and her deeds in Vietnam.

Solomon released her from his arms briefly, as he shrugged off his blazer, at no point breaking the increasingly compelling kiss. His hand traveled around to the back of her neck to pull the tie from her hair, combing away her braid with his fingers, allowing the tresses to flow freely down her back. Her robe mysteriously slipped off her shoulders, wafting gracefully down to the floor.

Their lips parted again, and glowing red met glowing red.

"Have you ever wondered why a Chevalier's eyes do not match those of his Queen, but rather those of her sister?"

Saya just stared at him, entranced and silent.

He pulled her even closer, his lips just beside her ear as he whispered.

"Because we are made for each other."

…

She abruptly snapped out of her nostalgic daze as Freddie entered.

"So?!" he shouted, rubbing his hands together expectantly. "Who's ready to get married?!"

Solomon sighed. "I should get going."

"Damn straight!" Freddie declared.

The younger Chevalier approached the door, and turned back towards his Queen once more before exiting, giving her the same contented-cat smile he had, both the night they first met, just before being dragged away by Van, and the night he saved her from James, just before walking away, knowing full well that he was dying.

Aka and Ruka reentered, their makeup finished, hair done in simple, elegant updos.

"C'mon, let's see the dress!" they demanded.

"Scram, Freddie!" Yuki commanded as she shoved her husband out the door.

Ruka turned to her sister. "Is it just me, or was he wearing cowboy boots?" she asked condescendingly, clearly not reading into it any farther than a confirmation of poor fashion-sense. "Seriously obaachan, you're his wife now, you're supposed to make sure he dresses properly!"

"Are you kidding? If anything, he dresses me!" Yuki giggled as she removed the garment bag from the wedding dress.

After several minutes and a good deal of assistance, the bride was fully dressed.

It was truly a masterpiece.

The gown was much more conservative than an average modern wedding dress, there wasn't even a bit of completely unobstructed skin below her chin. The tight, stiff bodice went just up over the bosom, leaving the arms and shoulders to be covered by a delicate point d'esprite lace that extended all the way up her neck, where it was topped with a large pink bow at the front, somehow reminiscent of her Koza school uniform. The sleeves were made in the "leg-o-mutton" style she had always been partial to, and then cuffed twice with pale pink ribbon, once at the wrists, and once where the puff at the shoulders narrowed. The skirt was made of flounced organza with a small bustle, accentuated by a elaborate draping pannier overskirt, and decorated with a row of pink bows down the back, and a few bars of pink ribbon just above the ruffles at the hem. Under the skirt was a pair of white leather and lace ankle-boots, so elegant that it was a shame they were hidden. Her hands were covered by a pretty pair of white crocheted gloves, complete with a small slit for the ring.

Ruka and Akahana's gowns were similar yet simplified, with a pink silk polonaise over a matching skirt. Fitting with the grand tradition of bridesmaids, Aka and Ruka hated them.

Preparations now complete, the bride and her ladies emerged from the guestroom, finding Freddie waiting just outside the door.

"Oh my god!" he squealed at the bride. "You look like a James Tissot painting, my dear! Absolutely lovely! Almost as beautiful as your mother!" he exclaimed, grinning at her for a moment before he took Yuki's arm and proceeded to escort her to the waiting car.

The bride and her maids picked up their respective bouquets from a table by the door, but as Saya clutched at her prim nosegay, something between her fingers struck her as out of place.

_What is that? A loose bit of florist's tape?_

Like any woman on her wedding day, she was an obsessive perfectionist, so she tilted the bouquet in order to tuck in the dangle, only to find that it was in fact one of Haji's blue hair ribbons, tied in a careful, two-looped bow around the cluster of stems.

_He remembered about 'something blue' too._

Her vision blurred due to a unexpected excess of moisture, and all thoughts of nuptial trivialities vanished from her mind. Suddenly, all she could think about was her life-long friend and devoted companion of the past century and a half.

_Haji_.

* * *

Again, you are correct. I still haven't told you, though I am curious as to which way you feel it's leaning, and your thoughts as to this timeline, I'm kinda out on a limb here…

Incidentally, her gown is actually loosely based on a James Tissot painting, "The Gallery of HMS Calcutta."

More flashbacks and the moment of truth, still to come...

Thank you, reviewers!


	30. The Groom

This chapter contains a _mild lemon_ (adult content).

* * *

The full-length veil had finally been affixed to her hair, and trailed several feet behind her.

"I still think you should have had a Japanese wedding," Kai grumbled as he pulled the blusher over her face.

"He and I both grew up in Europe," she said as she took his arm.

Kai conceded the argument with a groan, and sensing that time was running out, changed the subject.

"Hey, I know there's pretty much no reason for me to say this, but – if he's ever a jerk to you, you just let me know and I'll kick his ass."

Saya could barely contain her laughter.

"What? You don't think I could do it?" Kai whined, feigning offense.

"Sorry, but you wouldn't stand a chance," Saya giggled. "But I guess that never stopped you from starting a fight before."

"True, true," he said with a thoughtful nod. "But my offer still stands. A guy's gotta look out for his little-sister-or-whatever."

Both of them caught the opening notes of the bridal march.

"Kai," Saya spoke quietly as she took her first step towards the altar. "Thank you – for everything."

He turned to her with a wide, almost silly grin. "Shut up, or I'm gonna start cryin'."

The heels of her boots made muted clicks against the floor, and her already over-taxed nerves tensed as the eyes of everyone in the church fixed on her. The self-consciousness faded when her gaze met that of the man standing closest to the officiant, after briefly traveling across the faces of the two men standing at his side.

Solomon stared in awe as the bride finally appeared at the back of the church.

_How can it be possible for anyone to be this beautiful?_

…

He pulled away the bow tied at the front of the gathered collar, widening it enough to pull it down over her shoulders and the rest of her body. For several seconds he simply gazed at her, both the lusty, appraising stare a man would give to a nude woman and the look of a cultured gentlemen appreciating a precious work of art.

He briefly recalled the only other time he had seen her like this, how she lay there, unconscious in his New York apartment three decades ago, when the proverbial devil on his shoulder had begged him to explore that body with more than just his eyes. But as Nathan had observed, he loved her too much to take advantage of her, or at least too much to take advantage of her more than he already was.

Tonight was obviously different.

His hands slid gracefully across her flesh as if trying to memorize every inch of her, so that even if she didn't become his in marriage, at least she would always be his in memory. Consistent with the stereotype of his sex, he was eager for that so-glorified pinnacle of physical closeness, but this primal impatience was offset by the smug and genuinely enjoyable realization that came to him as his lips crept across her skin. The silky gasps of unexpected sensation, the sumptuous sighs that were gradually evolving into ungovernable moans, the curl of her fingers that had found their way into his hair, the tense writhing that had seized the rest of her body - was all for him and him alone.

When her head fell back against the pillows, he sensed that the time had finally come. He briefly wondered if she could hear his heart pounding as he asked her the customary question.

"Are you ready?"

The maiden Queen made no real verbal response, simply an affirmative coo as his elbows took their places on either side of her, leaving his hands free to hold hers.

Fingers laced tightly together as hips slowly drew together, fulfilling their shared Darwinian destiny.

He knew he was hurting her, both by common sense and the wince that flashed across her features, but he also knew she had a high tolerance for pain and didn't shy away from showing it, as she had several decades ago, when he pulled a sword from her body. Nevertheless, the tiny internal tear did seem to awaken the instinct that always accompanied bodily harm.

His mouth fell open in an uncontrollable moan as she sunk her fangs into his neck, taking only a small amount, proportional to what she had just lost. He kissed away the stray drops of blood on her lips as he began to make love to her.

The initial caution loosened to a slow, deliberate sway, not just because he knew this was her first, but because he wanted to prolong his moment with her as much as he could possibly stand to.

"I love you."

The words had tumbled involuntarily from his lips. Her answer seemed to come of it's own accord. She cried his name.

Fingers gripped together more tightly, interlacing knuckles beginning to turn white, the ring still on her finger leaving a biting, yet at present completely unnoticed red indentation in the skin of both lovers.

Time had lost all meaning, so he wasn't sure how long he managed to hold out, how long he made slow, gentle love to her, how long it was before he gave in to the beast that coursed through his veins and he took her – no, they took each other, with all the abandon of heedless instinct.

Hands were no longer fisted as one, they grappled together, fingers outstretched, straining against one another, desperately grasping at each other's palms, intensifying tremors making it impossible for them to grip together for long.

There was no future, no past, no guilt, no war, no bed, no room, no world – there was only they two, floating in a warm, empty universe of euphoria until they careened into the fleeting ecstasy of release and fell into the delirious contentment that followed.

As soon as he had finished panting his recovery, he finally spoke.

"I love you Saya." Her hair fluttered slightly as he whispered. "Be my bride."

…

Solomon smiled subtly at the memory as the bride neared, but felt his heart seize in his chest when her eyes met his.

…

Saya was still standing in his arms, her back to him as he leaned over her shoulder.

She didn't say it to hurt him, she would have never been needlessly cruel to him. She only said it because she knew it was the only thing she could possibly say that might make him give up his suit.

She took in a deep, shaky breath, and spoke in a whisper so that he might not notice her wavering voice. "I don't love you."

His eyes slowly opened.

Solomon had prepared himself for a possible rejection, but what she said had caught him off guard. He hadn't anticipated that it would be so frank, so completely devastating.

Overcome by frustration, he roughly turned her around in his arms. He tore away the sheet as if it was a wall she could hide behind, and pressed their bare bodies together, pushing up on her chin, forcing her to look at him.

"That night you said you were happy about my feelings, why did you say that?" His voice remained terrifyingly calm. "You said you didn't have time left for sweet dreams about a future together, that's exactly what you said, those words have echoed in my head for the past thirty years, giving me hope." He choked slightly on the last word. "Why did you say those things? Was it because you wanted another man to be your slave? Why didn't you just say that you didn't have feelings for me then?"

Her mind flew back to that night, the night he had first asked her to be his bride. The night that she had felt something stir deep inside of her, feelings she had never known, or at least never acknowledged.

That night she had to remind her self that he had headed a company that did cruel and hideous experiments on innocent children, he had plotted to turn a substantial percentage of the human race into blood-thirsty monsters, he had tried to kill Haji twice and both times he nearly succeeded, and he had just stood there while Diva was about to kill her at the Zoo.

Despite that, the devotion in his words and the honesty in his eyes had made her soul ache, but in a different way than she was used to. For one beautiful moment, his overt adoration for her had overpowered her hatred of herself, and because of that, she had nearly accepted his offer.

"Because it would have been a lie!" she said in a pleading whimper. "I did have feelings for you, how could I not? You saved my life, you betrayed Diva for me, you said all those beautiful things, you were offering me everything I had ever wanted!"

Transfixed by emotional discord, she stood motionless as her mouth was crushed in a desperate kiss, his grasp on her body almost tight enough to be painful.

He released her lips for a split second.

"Kiss me back." It was both a demand and a helpless, abject plea. His arms closed around her even more tightly, and when her mouth finally opened, either to gasp for air or cry out in pain, he instantly took the opportunity to deepen the kiss, forcing his way inside until he had engulfed all five of her senses, the taste of his tongue, the heat of his skin, the scent of his body, the brief glances at his face, the hiss of his breath and her own whimpering hums. Whatever she was feeling inside, on the outside, it was only him, and it seemed he had every intention of correcting that as she felt his feet shuffling across the floor towards the bed, pulling her with him, as his lips inched their way down from her mouth to her neck.

It wasn't that he was trying to force himself on her, he was trying to wring out some kind of candid response, to make her to either confirm or refute what she had said with some sort of action, but still she neither resisted or indulged.

"mhhhhhh," the sigh escaped from her lips uncontrollably. Her body was almost limp in his arms, pliant clay in his hands, completely at his mercy as her blood simmered in response to the contact.

"mhhhhh," the sigh increased in pitch and volume as his lips moved down even further and with every passing second, she grew weaker and weaker.

That was the effect Solomon had always had on her, this man who had betrayed his allies and abandoned his greatest obligation to pursue personal happiness, and most striking of all, never seemed to feel any guilt or regrets about anything. He represented all the feelings and impulses that she had so tyrannically repressed, he exemplified everything she secretly longed for – freedom from duty and remorse. He made her want to give up, to give in, to ignore everything that mattered in the long run, to abandon all, her mission, her family, her conscience and even her soul, in favor of any kind of momentary peace or bliss.

In that way, he was Haji's polar opposite.

Haji had always made her strong. He had always given her the strength to put aside her own desires for the sake of doing what was right. His fortitude, his resolute selflessness and unwavering devotion had always unconsciously inspired her to keep going, to honor the oath she had made to those who had died and to those who would die if she didn't act, to delay any kind of repose or gratification until she had done what she knew she had to.

She felt the back of her knees hit the edge of the bed, and her heel met an object that had fallen to the floor. She heard the scabbard clink against the blade.

"hhh-Haji-"

Solomon's eyes snapped open. She wasn't just calling out the name of her other lover, nor was she calling for his help. She was stating her feelings in the most articulate way she could manage at the moment. His body shifted up against hers until they were looking eye to eye and he finally saw that she was on the verge of tears, staring helplessly up at him, pitiful, glowing red eyes begging him to stop what she knew she couldn't, to stop what her royal chiropteran blood craved so elementally.

Suddenly he was shocked and disgusted with his own actions, _completely_ ashamed of himself for the first time since he had been reborn as a superior being, far more remorseful than he had ever been about any of his crimes against humanity. His eyes returned to their natural green.

His grip on her loosened until he was holding her gently as she finally started to cry, clinging to him in her distress, even though he was the one who had caused it.

He drew in a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I-", he exhaled, and never finished his statement. It was then that Solomon realized that in a way, he had been right all along about her feelings for him.

_She does love me._

_She does…_

_Just not as much as Haji. Not enough to leave Haji._

He released her.

Her stance wobbled a bit as she found her balance again. Not ten seconds later, her lover was fully dressed and opened the door to take his leave. His lips parted in an attempt to speak, but again, no words came. He pushed himself forward, softly shutting the door behind him before she could see him bury his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking in time with inaudible sobs.

…

Both Chevaliers were her grooms, Haji in the eyes of human society, Solomon in the eyes of ancient chiropteran custom.

She always did seem to prefer the human way of doing things.

Saya's gaze shifted from one groom to the other, fixing on Haji, his exultant expression one that she had never quite observed in him before, even during their idyllic days at the Zoo.

Distracted by the heartwarmingly nostalgic sight of her smiling as she clutched a bouquet of pink roses and red lilies and wearing that old-fashioned Victorian dress, it was only then that Haji noticed the blue rose over her ear.

His throat vibrated in a silent growl. He knew perfectly well who had given it to her. Who else knows where to acquire a blue rose?

However, he was able to calm himself almost immediately, though for a somewhat more convoluted reason than what one might have guessed. Upon taking up residence at the Zoo, over the next few years, Haji had been quite adept at absorbing the subtleties of the upper-class culture of the time. This included a familiarity with the then-commonly understood _Language of Flowers, _in which surprisingly specific symbolic meanings were assigned to virtually every plant and flower one could think of, allowing a gentleman to compose a fairly complex love-letter with nothing more than a well-arranged bouquet. Naturally, this idea had great appeal to Haji, a man of few words who had fallen deeply in love with his best friend. Many times he had presented the object of his affection with a carefully chosen bunch of flowers, but somehow she always managed to be oblivious to their tacit but often bold declarations of passionate, eternal love.

It was his knowledge of a flower's meaning that relieved whatever aggravation he might have felt at seeing her with Solomon's blue rose on her ear. Blue roses had a very clear symbolic meaning.

_The art of floriography probably lost its popularity before his time, I'm sure he doesn't know the significance of that flower. Strange that it's meaning is so relevant to his situation. _

_A blue rose means "Unattainable love." _

_He desired something that he couldn't have._

Haji felt a small swell of pity for his rival for the first time since watching Solomon essentially give his life to protect Saya from James.

Solomon's stare remained locked on the bride as she neared the altar. He forced his false smile to widen, in hopes of making it appear that the unusual gloss in his eyes was due to happiness. She was so close now, so close that he could reach out and touch her, he could pull her to him and show everyone how he still felt.

_That sweet smile… she does truly look happy._

Some words he had once said to Haji came to mind.

_If you truly are Saya's Chevalier, then should you not wish for your master's happiness…_

His stare briefly shifted from the bride to the groom.

…

_I could kill him._

_I could kill him right now. _

_I could kill him, she would love me if it wasn't for him._

_I could kill him, then he would be gone._

_It wouldn't be difficult, he only uses his chiropteran powers to protect Saya, not himself. I could kill him._

_Saya will be angry with me, no doubt, and grieve, perhaps for many years, but I have all the time in the world to make her forget. I know that I can make her forget. I did that night in New York. She would have been mine if he hadn't shown up._

_I could make her happy. Happier than he ever could. All he can offer her is the constant reminder of her own tragic past. It's for her own good. There would be only misery in her future with him._

_I will kill him._  
_  
I'll kill him the same way I killed Martin, take off the head, crush the heart, wait for the blood to drain and burn the remains._

_One less to choose from._

Solomon waited for his rival at the intersection of the sidewalk and a dim ally beside the Naha hotel where the rendezvous had just taken place. This wouldn't be a duel. This would be murder.

That didn't bother him in his current state of mind. It had been a long time since he had learned how to detach himself from the responsibility of taking lives.

_Enemies aren't people, thus remorse should not be wasted on them._

But before his victim appeared, a familiar voice sounded behind him. Solomon didn't bother to face the one who had spoken.

"Well you look awfully glum for a man that just nailed his dream girl. I take it you made her an offer and she refused."

"I am in no mood for your games, Nathan."

The ancient Chevalier smirked. "Strangely enough, I didn't come here to tease you."

Solomon took the bait and asked the question his brother was fishing for. "Why are you here, then?"

"To make sure you're still alive."

Solomon turned to face his older brother. "What do you mean?"

"You deflowered her, did you not?"

Solomon's silence had a clear affirmative subtext.

"After all, the other Queen's blood is always deadly to us, not just with ingestion and injection, but with _intimate contact _as well, and it doesn't get more intimate than _that_. It isn't as instantaneous, but it is fatal." He gave a short, heartless laugh. "Diva was telling the truth when she said that she killed the Miyagusuku boy by _giving him her blood_. She always was cryptic, I always wondered if it was intentional or if her early isolation also effected her language skills." He paused. "Originally Yuki and I simply planned on reviving you after you were dead, however, she and I estimated that witnessing you die in such a way might be the last straw for Saya's fragile psyche. So, we decided to give you the blood before your big night, in hopes that if it were in your system, it would negate the poison, thus saving Saya from a very traumatic experience. It seems to have worked." He put his fist to his chin and thought for a moment. "But I must admit, there is a part of me that would have just _loved_ to see you die in front of her, that would have made such a moving scene. I'm sure you would have delivered a spectacular performance." The ancient Chevalier took a few steps toward Solomon. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but it was for your own good. You wanted Saya so badly and trust me, it's hard to fully enjoy sex when you think you're going to die immediately afterwards."

Yuki stepped out from the shadows and stood beside her Chevalier.

"You know Solomon, in the old days, your life would be considered a sacrifice to ensure good luck and a happy life for your daughters, and it would become your duty to watch over them from heaven." Yuki gave a brief, sober laugh and her tone turned bitter. "Load of good that did my daughters. I say screw tradition."

"I agree," her companion declared, "Who cares what the elders said, after all, we are the elders now!" Freddie paused. "In light of this revelation, I think you owe my wife another _thank you,_ seeing as you aren't dead."

"Perhaps it would have been better that way." Solomon muttered, but with all his usual tranquility. "To die for her happiness, what more could I ask for?"

"Oh lord!" Freddie groaned. "I think that having that emo hairdo for so long has gone to your head!"

Solomon ignored the comment. "I will thank Yuki though, for the thought if nothing else," he paused. "I suppose you two will be leaving then?" Solomon subtly urged.

Freddie's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why are you still skulking around here anyway?" Solomon did not answer.

Freddie arched a brow. "You're planning to fight Haji." Freddie leaned forward and looked his younger brother in the eye, as if he was reading words on a page. "Yes, that's exactly what you're thinking."

Solomon glared at the ancient Chevalier. "I wasn't aware that mind reading was a power our kind possessed."

"Communication by means of projecting messeges into the mind of another member of our race – yes, outright mind-reading - no," Freddie stated matter-of-factly. "I just know that judging by your past actions, you have absolutely no brains or conscience when you're all worked up over Saya." He paused. "And I know a desperate man when I see one."

"This doesn't concern you, Nathan."

"Oh but it does, it concerns me quite a bit. I am not going to allow you to kill a member of our clan just because the woman you love loves him more than you."

"I am warning you Nathan, stay out of this."

"Or what? You'll fight me too?" he said with a mocking chortle.

"Tempt not a desperate man!"

Freddie laughed hysterically for a few seconds before speaking, in the girlish tones of Nathan Mahler. "Romeo, act five, scene three, and they called _me_ a drama queen!"

Solomon's eyes flashed red, and his weapon extended from his sleeve.

"I love her Nathan, I will do whatever it takes."

Solomon flinched in discomfort as he spoke the last word in the sentence, immediately realizing that his blade-arm had been sliced off, and his elder brother was now holding the detached limb by the wrist.

"You really need to mind that arm a little more, it gets sliced off almost as often as Haji gets impaled." Freddie paused after a brief, derisive chuckle. "Grow up!" he growled as he slapped Solomon hard across the face with his own severed hand. "Do you really think that killing Haji will make her come crawling to you? That's the most delusional thing I've heard since Carl died! Killing him will only make her despise you, and I think if there is anything the past has shown us, it's that she tends not to just let things go! If you kill Haji, she will come to you, oh yes, she'll definitely seek you out, and she wont rest until she's killed you, and FYI, Yuki's blood only works once, not that I would encourage her to bail you out under such circumstances. And even so, it wouldn't matter because I'm not going to let you kill him. You know damn well you're no match for me, and should you think it would be terribly romantic for you to die in such a battle, keep in mind that it would be no problem for me to defeat you without killing you. You wouldn't be a romantic martyr, just a sore loser in more ways than one! So will you knock it off with this stupid shit! What kind of macho asshole respects his woman so little that he wouldn't let her make her own decision?! Take a deep breath, stop being such a pitiful contentious idiot!

Solomon remained motionless as the red left his eyes, abandoning his murderous plans not because of his brother's threats, but because he knew he was right. In killing Haji, he would only become Saya's sworn enemy, beginning whole new vendetta.

Freddie gave him a stern glare, as if he were a parent looking at a naughty child, and gingerly handed the bloody limb back to his younger brother.

"You love her and she loves Haji. Get over it," Freddie said as Solomon slid his arm back into its sleeve.

"That's easy for you to say, it would appear that you have the woman you've always loved," Solomon muttered despondently.

"After spending several thousand years believing that I would never see her again. Who's to say that Saya wont come 'round after a few millennia? Our species is immortal, so it's impossible to say whether or not we mate for life. Now Solomon, I know you're not human, but will you please just be a man! Saya has made her choice, and no offense, but I think she made the right one, not just because I think poor Haji deserves some return on all the time and injury he has invested in that woman, but because she _needs_ him. That's all there is to it. Haji can give her one thing that no one else can, something she needs more than protection or adoration. Haji can give her closure. All the hostile chiropterans have been wiped out, and the last samples of delta 67 have been destroyed, so there will never be another chiropteran made from Diva's blood. Saya's crusade is over, and soon she will have to come to terms with two hundred years of trauma and pain, she will no longer be able to use her mission as an excuse to shut out her past. She will have to face the terrible things that have happened to her as well as the terrible things she has done, this may be her most difficult battle yet, and Haji is the key to her victory. Haji who has been there, who has witnessed every traumatic event that still clings to her consciousness, Haji who understands the nature of her suffering, because he has suffered through it with her. She needs him. I have no doubt that you are capable of being very sweet and supportive to her, but not the same way Haji can. If she doesn't get the help she needs, she will loose herself, and I know you don't want that to happen. Like her first Chevalier, Saya too carries a coffin on her back, and without his support, she will be very much in danger of being crushed under the weight of it."

Solomon was silent for a moment as he recalled what Saya had said a few months ago in Diva's tower.

Freddie could clearly see that Solomon had just gone from a desperate man to a broken one. "I know that this must be very hard. Even _if_ chiropterans mate for life, there is more to life than mating. As wonderful as love is, it really isn't everything, trust me, I lived without it for several thousand years, and I was reasonably happy most of the time. Requited love is only one way to feed the soul, but the world is full of other paths to spiritual wholeness, you just need to find a new purpose. I had the stage amongst other things, James had his army guy stuff, even Amshel had his evil experiments, but if you let anger and loneliness rule your life, then you'll probably end up just like Carl, and I don't want to see that happen to you, for several reasons. First of all, I'm kind of fond of you, second, I'll be the one who has to kill you and finally, I really don't think that the cape slash mask combo would suit you."

Solomon's morose expression didn't change. Disappointed that his assertion hadn't even elicited a smirk, the elder Chevalier continued on the subject, in hopes of getting a chuckle out of his dejected brother.

"I mean really, what was with that whole tuxedo-bat-man look? I know the man was completely insane, but that is no excuse for such a cliché abomination of an outfit."

Yuki giggled. "Oh you're one to talk, I've seen pictures of you wearing a frilly purple blouse and pink stretch pants, and you're wearing cowboy boots right at this very moment!"

Freddie put his fists to his hips. "I like cowboy boots!"

"Hey, I've seen old pictures of you too Solomon!" Yuki giggled. "What was with those heinous white suits? What were you, a Cuban drug lord?"

Solomon sighed and smirked in acknowledgment of the comment, if only to get them off his back. At this point, all he wanted was for them to leave him to morn the death of his dreams in peace.

…

_Up until that night, I would never have thought it possible for one to feel anything that intensely._

_To feel more alive than ever and to feel like dying all in the span of under an hour._

Immediately after his older brother's intervention, he had hopped into his car, drove it to a ferry bound for Hong Kong_, _then North through mainland China and Siberia, across the trans-bering bridge to Alaska, and then over most of North America, all the way to his New York apartment. It took him two weeks and twenty-five speeding tickets to get home, never once stepping out of the car, never once loosing his vacant inconsolable stare. When he finally arrived, he spent the next three weeks in seclusion, only immerging from his dim living room to board a plane, two days before the wedding, absolutely hell-bent on looking happy for Saya, even if it killed him.

Perhaps it would have, if not for his immortality. To smile for hours while feeling such despair takes it's toll on both the body and the soul.

By the time his mind had returned to the present, the vows had already been made.

The officiant declared them man and wife, not realizing that his words served only to placate cultural expectations the bride and groom had been brought up with, superficially validating their bond in the context of mortal custom and law, when in fact, it had been a very long time since the two of them had been a matched set in the eyes of God and anyone else who truly knew them.

Saya's most beloved Chevalier leaned down for the kiss, the sort of innocent peck that would have been acceptable had they gotten married when he had originally hoped.

It was somewhat disappointingly chaste, at least in the opinion of his white-rose bearing groomsman.

"Oh, this is ridiculous, what are they, _siblings_?" he muttered to his imaginary audience before raising his voice to a crude holler. "Slip her the tongue!"

The hands of both bridesmaids immediately slapped over Freddie's mouth.

"What?" he whined as he pried their hands away from his face. "They're French, for god sakes!"

* * *

There you have it.

I welcome, and eagerly await your opinions and criticism, and am genuinely interested in hearing your points of view.

Many of you are undoubtedly displeased with this outcome, and some of you are probably pissed at me. If you are a heartbroken Solomon fan, I urge you to stick with me for the final few chapters, as his part in the story is not over.

If you are truly inconsolably disappointed with Saya's choice of husband (or if you just feel like it), then I welcome you to write and post an alternative ending, though I recommend that you wait until this story is concluded.

This chapter has also been my maiden voyage into the world of citrusy-ness, and will probably also be my last, unless my readers would like a Haji/Saya scene.

I there is something else I should note, for the sake of anyone who is not be familiar with such things. Girls do not always bleed during their first time having intercourse, I know this for an irrefutable fact. I'm just using that stereotype as a plot device.


	31. Footloose Man

The white brocade walls were lined in gilded gold trim, pink and white satin swag hung from sparkling brass and crystal sconces, and dozens of tall, lush sprays of pink roses and red lilies were spread around the ballroom. The adjacent dining room housed a pair of marble-topped tables the length of a basketball court, a stripe of fresh pink rose petals acting as a table runner beneath dense clusters of red lilies rising up from silver urns. The hundred-fifty abandoned place settings near by were so formal that the array of silverware at the majority of the seats appeared almost unused, as most of the guests were unsure of what to do with the third or fourth fork in the arsenal.

As could be expected of one of the wealthiest families in the world, the Goldschmidt's estate on the outskirts of Paris was luxurious from cellar to attic, but the rarely used grand ballroom and dining room werenothing short of opulent, and made even more extravagant for the wedding reception.

The cake, once very nearly too pretty to eat, had been cut and served, it's remains now slowly collapsing into a pile of devil's food rubble in the center of the wreath of pink roses that encircled it's faded glory. The banquet having been effectively concluded, the glossy, expansive dance floor was now densely populated with elegant guests, along with the bride and groom.

Saya had completely forgotten the inherent challenges of dancing with someone that was a foot and a half taller than herself, her arm was getting sore from having to reach up above her own head in order to grasp his shoulder.

That slight ache in her arm called her mind to long past, and virtually forgotten early years of their friendship. Once they had moved past their initial discord, she took it into her head to teach Haji all sorts of things, most famously, how to play cello, but also how to read, write, draw, paint, ride, fence, crochet, embroider, speak English, speak German, speak Latin, virtually every skill she had acquired in her forty-odd years of life was passed to her protégé with condescending looks and stern criticism.

But as she and her groom twirled across the floor, she recalled how she had taught him to dance as well, though at the beginning, their positions were reversed. She was taller, and she was always the one to lead.

She glanced up at him and as her eyes met his gentle stare, she got the distinct impression that he was thinking of the same thing.

"Haji, when was the last time you danced?"

Not knowing that the question had arisen out of nearly random curiosity, he wondered if she had been thinking of the last time _she_ had danced, just over three decades ago. His heart sank a little, though it hardly mattered as it had been up in the clouds to begin with, well above the elevation usually attributed to sublime happiness.

"You know when."

It had been the morning before the Zoo tragedy, a little practice in preparation for the ball that turned out to be a massacre.

As the current song came to an end, and the couple turned toward the sound of a soft "Pardon me." Neither was even remotely surprised to find Solomon standing near by.

He didn't even need to ask. With a soft sigh of resignation, Haji stepped aside, allowing his wife's former lover to cut in.

"I'm so glad I finally got a chance to dance with you again."

Her hand now resting at a more comfortable height, she glanced up at him, finding his eyes politely averted.

"Me too," Saya forced her self to murmur out loud.

A few bars of music passed.

"How are you feeling?" he asked tenderly.

"Alright. Kind of tired, I guess, didn't get much sleep last night."

He chuckled at her naïve misinterpretation of his question.

"I mean, how does this feel?" His hand left her waist and rested lightly over her lower belly before returning to its former position.

Her entire face flushed as her widened eyes glanced nervously around the room, fearing that someone might have seen the gesture. Fortunately it appeared they hadn't.

"U-um," she stuttered quietly, "I cant really feel anything yet."

"Have you consulted Dr. Silverstein?"

"Y-yes," she answered.

"And what did she have to say?"

"U-um," she said, still stuttering, "she said that it should be over a year before I start showing any– signs."

"I see. Have you and Haji given any thought to names?"

"No," she said as her blush renewed itself.

He smiled. "I was wondering, and you are under no obligation to actually consider this, but, would you mind if I contributed a suggestion?"

She looked up at him. "Of course not."

He paused a moment. "I was thinking, perhaps _Rosette _and_ Lisette_. I was inspired by your floral motif," he said, briefly gesturing to a nearby arrangement of roses and lilies.

He felt a burst of warmth in his chest as her face lit up.

"That's perfect!" she exclaimed excitedly, loud enough to attract the attention of a few nearby couples. Her voice lowered. "I mean, I'll have to talk to Haji about it."

He smiled as he nodded. "I understand."

They continued to dance in silence until the piece had nearly finished.

"I know that according to our agreement, Haji will be the one to act as their father, but, if it's alright with you, I would like to be a part of their lives."

She smiled. "You will always be welcome in our home."

The meter of the song slowed as the melody prepared to resolve up to it's final tonic.

Saya looked up at Solomon as their feet stopped moving. She had been making a conscious effort not to think about him, or what had passed between them a few weeks ago, but in that moment, she felt that she owed it to him to say something.

"Solomon -"

She stopped herself, realizing that nothing she could say, no words of gratitude or apology could ever quite equal what he had done and gone through for her sake.

Ironically, this prompted her to do something far more intimate, and though well meaning, infinitely more cruel.

She placed a warm, ever so slightly lingering kiss on his cheek. His throat tightened and his eyes fell shut.

Haji stood at the other end of room, averting his gaze from the gesture.

She flashed a warm smile as she turned to walk away. Solomon's hand unconsciously made its way up to his face, resting on his cheek as if to trap the kiss against his skin, disallowing it's escape or evaporation. His eyes followed her as she made her way across the room to her husband.

In that moment, both Solomon and Saya thought exactly the same thing.

_It's only ever been Haji._

* * *

It was nearly eleven, the lights had been turned up, the music had been turned down, and most of the guests had taken the hint and left. Only the wedding party and a few of their close friends remained, most of them assisting in the clean up.

Kai stood atop a chair as he struggled to pull some swag down from the wall.

"Anybody got some scissors?"

No response from those standing nearby.

"A pocket knife? Anything sharp?"

He turned to find Haji standing beside him, silently offering him one of his red-jeweled daggers.

"Um, thanks. I guess that'll work."

Yuki leaned over to whisper to her husband. "Jeez, the guy came armed to his own wedding!"

"Can you blame him?" Freddie replied, his eyes gesturing toward the blond man across the room. Freddie assumed his thinker pose. "Hmm. I wonder where Haji keeps those daggers _now_…"

"What do you mean, _now_?" Yuki asked curiously.

Freddie turned to his wife with a grin. "Well, judging by his attitude for the past few decades up until yesterday, I think it's safe to say where he _used_ _to_ keep them."

Yuki pondered this for a moment before giggling childishly, not unlike her late daughter. "Teehehe, up his butt!"

"Yes my love, but when you say it aloud like that, it destroys the subtlety," he laughed.

"Oh, okay." She glanced over at the groom again. "Someone tell Haji to stop smiling, it's kinda creeping me out."

Freddie nodded. "I suppose the expression does look somewhat out of place on him, I have a feeling that of the people in this room, Saya's the only one who's ever seen the elusive Haji-smile."

Solomon had busied himself by walking up the length of the long banquet table, helping to gather the centerpieces. It wasn't the sort of work he usually engaged in, but over the years, he had learned that one of the best ways to stave of despair is to keep occupied, as he had during the years of unfulfilling toil in the service of Amshel's plots.

Young Joel was walking along the other side of the grand table, gathering the place card holders.

"Hey Solomon, 'sit true that you used ta' be Diva's – er- thingamajig - Chevalier?" Joel asked from across the table. Though not quite drunk, he had clearly had a glass more than he probably should have.

"At one time, yes, I was."

Joel considered this for a moment. "How th'hell d'you end up with us?"

Solomon spent a few moments in a silent internal debate as to the most polite way to say _I really don't feel like talking about it right now_, when Kai suddenly joined the conversation.

"I can answer that question," he declared. "So, one day, in about, say, 2007, I just got the twins down for a nap when someone rings the bell. So I stomp down stairs, and as I open the door I say _We're closed, cant you read- _but then, I see that standing on my front door step is none other than Nathan Mahler and Solomon Goldsmith! So, I'm all like _OH SHIT!_ and I do what anyone would do when faced with unwanted guests – I slammed the door in their faces. I mean, if there's anything scarier than two enemy Chevaliers, its two enemy Chevaliers that you thought were dead until they show up at your door. So, I run across the room, jump over the bar and start tearing through the cupboard, looking for my gun, cause I know damn well that the door wont hold 'em for long. So, I find my gun, but of course its not loaded – I mean I've got young kids in the house for god sake! And I cant for the life of me remember where I put the bullets." He laughed. "And it's then that I realize that Nathan and Solomon are already inside, they must've zoomed in while I was closing the door – you know how Chevaliers are.

"So, I'm standing there, pointing my colt at two guys who it wouldn't do any good on even if it was loaded. I damn near pissed myself." He laughed again. "So, even then it didn't take a genius to figure out why they showed up – obviously it had something to do with the twins. So I say _I wont let you take them, _as badass-like as I can, and Nathan says -," Kai began to speak in an effeminate, stereotypically gay voice, "_Honey, we have just as much right to see those kids as you do. You're their uncle, and so are we_, and then Solomon says something along the lines of -," his tone became exaggeratedly gentle and calm, "_please understand, we are only here to help, we have absolutely no intention of taking the children from you._" Kai took a moment to laugh along with Joel before continuing, "So I pretty much have to give 'em a chance – what am I gonna do, fight 'em off? I figure, hell, they both saved Saya's life at least once, maybe they aren't all bad." He paused for comedic effect. "And that, my friend, is how I ended up with two enemy Chevaliers helping me raise my kids."

Joel continued to howl with laughter for a few seconds, before remembering what his initial question was. He turned to Solomon, "Oh, I get it, you came over t'our side 'cause Diva was dead and you wanted t'hang out with th'twins!"  
Solomon lied with an affirmative nod as Joel wandered off. Solomon turned to face Kai.

"Thank you," he said sincerely, having no doubt that Kai had intentionally rescued him from Joel's awkward question.

"No problem. I still owe you from Cristina Island."

Mao approached the two men, brows knitted sternly. "Commiserating?"

"About what?" Kai groaned.

Solomon sensed some slight marital discord and decided to leave them to their bickering.

"About your precious Saya getting married," Mao stated, her tone bitingly sarcastic, though with a slight note of real frustration.

Kai shook his head and glared. "Will you _ever_ just drop that?!"

Mao smirked, feeling a strange sense of pride at getting him to nearly acknowledge what was once so obvious to her.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm totally happy for Saya. Can't have been easy being the tree in the center of that three-way territorial pissing-match."

"You mean two-way!"

"Honestly Kai, you're either a liar, or you have amnesia worse than she does." She chortled slightly. "Or maybe your just an idiot."

Kai threw his head back and groaned. "Yeah, well, it's been a while since I've been _your_ idiot, so will you give it a damn rest?"

A few feet away, Saya's dress rustled as she fell back on one of the elegant couches lining the walls of the ballroom, letting out a deep sigh as she shut her eyes and rested her head on the golden silk upholstered arm. Without thinking, Solomon made his way over to Saya and stood beside her husband.

"Just resting my eyes for a sec," she mumbled.

She was fast asleep within seconds.

A minute or two later, Kai appeared between her two _grooms_, laughing to himself when he caught sight of the sleeping bride. "What is it with her and falling asleep at parties?"

The two Chevaliers looked at Kai, neither having any idea what he was talking about.

"Never mind," Kai said as he walked away, leaving the two Chevaliers standing side by side, watching their sleeping Queen.

After a minute or two of silent observation, Solomon turned to his co-Chevalier.

"Haji, might I have a word with you outside?"

With a slight nod of his head, Haji headed toward the door, followed by Solomon.

This piqued the interest of the ancient Chevalier standing at the other end of the room.

"Be right back," he mentioned to his wife.

"Where are you going?"

"Solomon and Haji are having a talk outside, I'm going to make sure they don't kill each other," he said casually.

"Oh, good idea."

* * *

The grounds were lit with iridescent globes that sat atop elegant waist-high pillars, lining the cobblestone pathways through a plaza of roses. The garden housed hundreds of different cultivars, though none had yet immerged from winter dormancy, but the area had been dressed up with a spectacular bulb garden, hundreds of early tulips and hyacinths taking the focus off the bare, thorny rose canes.

The two rivals emerged from the chateau into the still night air, brisk with the chill of early spring, making their way through the frost-covered grounds of the Goldscmidt's estate. Solomon stopped and turned to the husband of the woman he loved, not knowing they were both under the watchful eyes of his elder brother, monitoring them from behind a tall hedge.

"Haji, several months ago, you and I agreed to a suspension of hostilities, but I am calling off the truce-" Haji tensed for a fraction of a second during Solomon's brief pause, "- in favor of outright and permanent peace."

Haji's posture loosened slightly as Solomon continued. "In light of today's events, animosity between us has become completely pointless." Solomon let out a slight sigh. "Perhaps it was pointless all along, fighting amongst ourselves as if the outcome actually mattered. In retrospect, the only thing that ever mattered were her feelings, and she has made those quite clear. I realize it is unlikely that either of us will ever truly be able to let bygones be bygones, after all, your wife is carrying my children, but for the sake of familial tranquility, don't you think we'd best forgive, if not forget?"

Haji maintained his usual stoic expression and said nothing, giving no indication as to his feelings about Solomon's offer. Solomon studied his features for clues on the subject, to no avail.

"You really are a hard man to read, Haji," Solomon said with a note of exasperation.

Haji took a moment to respond. "One could say the same about you."

Solomon considered this for a moment. "I never thought about it that way, but I guess you're right. I think you and I are both more complicated than first impressions might suggest. We both of us hide our passions behind a mask of calm composure." Solomon chuckled to himself. "That similarity in mind, perhaps someday, we'll grow on each other."

"Anything is possible," Haji stated. His cold response had less to do with holding a grudge than it did being able to see through the friendly pretense to what Solomon's real goal most likely was. Haji's taciturn nature and century and a half of life had enabled him to observe a great deal of human behavior, and had consequently acquired the interpersonal insight to see through artifice in most cases. He had a strong feeling that Solomon's attempts at reconciliation was most likely motivated by a desire to remain as close to Saya as possible - and no doubt attempt to cuckold him at the first available opportunity.

Of course, he was at least partially right. Solomon had indeed realized that to be at odds with Haji was to be at odds with Saya, thus making peace with Haji was essential if he wished to maintain _any_ sort of relationship with her. While he did have _some_ true inclination towards fence-mending, Saya's affection was his main goal, and at that point he felt that platonic intimacy was better than nothing.

Solomon gave his rival his signature, amiable smile. "The way I see it, if we're not enemies, we may as well attempt to be friends, for her sake, if nothing else."

"We will see."

Solomon extended his hand.

Despite suspecting Solomon's ulterior motives, after a moment of hesitation, Haji returned the gesture. The two shook hands as if they were opposing generals at the end of a war.

Their eyes met, silently communicating their mutual hatred and gratitude toward one another.

Haji turned to leave.

"Wait. There is something else."

Haji turned around to face his defeated foe as he continued. "There's something I need to tell you about Saya," he paused, "and Vietnam."

Haji said nothing, but his attentive expression made it clear that he was listening.

"The whole thing was a trap." Solomon lowered his gaze, but continued to speak frankly. "I know, because I planned it."

"A trap?"

"Yes. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that during the early 1970s, the Red Shield formed an alliance with the US military. This was detrimental to my brother Amshel's long-term goals, and I was charged with the task of destroying that alliance." His voice lowered. "I was the one who orchestrated it but Carl was the one to actually carry it out, since it was necessary for me to remain in Paris in order to adequately delay the peace conferences and prolong the war. My orders to Carl were to use our prototypical chiropterans to antagonize the US military in Vietnam, so as to force them to call in the Red Shield, and then to escalate the attacks in order to make it clear that you and the other agents would not be able to handle the situation with out Saya_. _We knew from experiments with Diva, that if Saya were to be forcefully brought out of hibernation, she wouldn't become completely conscious, but instead would say in a primal state of emergency self preservation, and would react violently if even slightly startled. Carl was to use the chiropterans to attack whatever location was chosen for the awakening, so that chaotic atmosphere would ensure maximum bloodshed. It was our hope that if the Red Shield's _secret weapon_ killed enough US servicemen, the Americans would break ties with them, creating an opening for Goldsmith Holdings. Once a suitable number of Americans casualties had been caused, Carl was to -" Solomon inhaled deeply, "kill her, if possible, but that was never a _priority_ of mine." He put emphasis on the last half. "The plan seemed perfect at the time, and in terms of our primary objective, it functioned flawlessly. " He paused. "The truth is, she killed those people only because she was manipulated into doing so. She was a puppet, not a monster." His eyes closed and he grimaced. "And I was one of the people holding the strings."

Solomon raised his eyes to meet Haji's, finding an understandably hostile expression."Haji, you must understand, I was only following orders. I had no choice in the matter." His tone lost it's subtly defensive quality. "I will not waste your time with impotent apologies, but I do hope that my actions during the past few years have done something to make up for the pain I caused for both of you."

Haji's hands had formed into tight fists.

"Haji, I am telling you all of this out of an earnest desire to help her. I know she feels a great deal of guilt over the incident, and it is my hope that the information I have just given you may someday serve to lessen that guilt. I have come to the conclusion that you should be the one to tell her when the time is right, as I believe it is clear that you are best suited to easing her pain. Whether you tell her the degree of my involvement is up to you."

Haji nodded, acknowledging Solomon's statement, but still to incensed to respond verbally. To find out that Solomon had been behind that horrible incident… Fortunately, it is much easier to forgive someone for the worst day of your life when you are currently experiencing the best day of your life.

Haji made his way back into the mansion, as Solomon stood outside, alone with his thoughts.

"That was very big of you."

Solomon let out a subtle groan.

"Nathan, can't you please just leave me alone."

"No, I don't think I will." He sighed. "I am rather proud of you, you know. That little scene with Haji was absolutely fabulous, and your smiles as she approached the altar were almost convincing. If it were up to me, you get an Oscar for your performance today – or perhaps a Nobel peace prize would be more suitable - now there would be some serious irony. Either way, it's good to see that you've grown up a little, Solomon. After all, you'll be a father soon."

He took a few seconds to respond. "Not really. I'll never be any more to my daughters than I have been to Aka and Ruka."

"And what's wrong with that? You'll be able to spoil them and brag about them, but poopy-diapers and surly teenagers won't be your problem, it's a pretty sweet deal, if you ask me. Besides, they won't be able to hide the children's true paternity for ever, even if they want to – when your twins come of age, _someone's_ going to explain chiropteran reproduction to them, including the fact that a Queen cannot conceive with her own Chevalier. From there, the truth should be fairly obvious to them."

Solomon said nothing, almost completely ignoring his brother as he watched Haji immerge from the chateau again, carrying a still-sleeping Saya in the manner most befitting the occasion. As the couple passed, he caught a glimpse of the tiny smile she wore in her sleep as her husband carried her off to the waiting car like an exhausted child after a day at an amusement park.

Freddie placed his hand on his younger brother's shoulder. "It really is one of life's crueler ironies, that some times the best proof of how much you love someone is in how you let them go."

Solomon stood, biting his lip slightly as he continued to watch another man make off with _his_ family.

"I'm afraid that this couldn't have been avoided," Freddie sighed. "Now that I think about it, you were doomed to fall in love with her from the start."

"I love her with my heart Nathan, not my blood," Solomon replied somberly.

"And what is a heart with out blood? What is blood with out a heart?" Freddie asked rhetorically. "They inherently effect one another. It is true that your Chevalier's blood intrinsically makes you lust after the sister of your Queen, but I think it has been some time since you have proven that your feelings for Saya go far beyond that. At the same time, I do find it rather strange that you could fall so deeply in love even though in reality, you barely knew her."

"One dance is all it took for Romeo and Juliet," Solomon muttered.

Freddie rolled his eyes. "If you don't knock it off with that analogy, I'm going to put you on suicide watch," he groaned. "I'm sure your blood had something to do with you falling in love with her, but I don't think it was the real cause. You loved Diva just as passionately as your jackass little brothers, but unlike them, you were able to recognize that she was incapable of loving you back, so instead of going into deep denial or loosing your mind, you moved on, supposedly leaving those feelings in the past." He paused for dramatic effect, before resuming in a soft, whimsical tone. "And then, from what I understand, one night, in Vietnam, you met a girl with Diva's face and a human heart. No, your love for Saya has very little to do with your blood."

Solomon shot a subtle glare at his older brother. "Nathan, I am quite sick of you presuming to know how I feel."

"Only an insensitive idiot would ever presume to know how someone else feels – and I'm not an idiot. While it is true that I too, once watched the girl of my fancy get married to someone else, I would still never claim to know what you're going through. I was simply stating the _obvious_."

Solomon tried to remain silent for a while, having learned that the only way to get rid of his older brother was to bore him, but before that could happen, he recalled something.

"Come to think of it, there is something I would like to say to you, Nathan."

"Hmm?"

"I would like thank you."

The ancient Chevalier grinned victoriously. "For what, exactly?"

"If it wasn't for your actions, your scheming, Saya would have died that day on Kaho'olawe."

Freddie chuckled. "On a day like this, it figures you'd thank me only for that, not for nursing your crumbling ass thirty years ago, arranging your _reproductive rendezvous_, or for making sure you didn't die from it," he laughed again. "But I will graciously accept your gratitude, seeing as no matter how long I live, the joy of being able to say _I told you so_ never diminishes." He smirked. "I told you, you would thank me."

Solomon shook his head. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you managed to make everything go your way," he paused and chuckled in spite of himself, "_he is of cunning more than mortal, for his cunning be the growth of ages_."

Freddie's smirk expanded into a wide grin. "Oh delightful boy! You're quoting my favorite book!"

"Favorite? I honestly never would have guessed."

"Are you kidding? No matter what mood I'm in, it never fails to make me laugh, God bless that Irishman and his silly imagination!" He paused. "I suppose there is good deal of truth in your implication, that I'm an insidious blood-sucking monster," he let out a dramatic sinister laugh in a baritone voice quite different from that of his last two known incarnations. "But I assure you, it'll take a good deal more than wooden stakes and Catholic paraphernalia to spoil _my_ plans."

"Either way, it would seem that you've managed to make everything work out perfectly for _you._" Solomon said quietly as he glanced over at Yuki, waiting in the doorway of the chateau, and then shifted his gaze aimlessly toward the horizon. "But I suppose happy endings aren't for everybody."

"_Ending_? What do you mean _ending_? You're not dead! And besides, I think if there's anything the past year has taught us, it's that dying isn't necessarily the end for our kind." Freddie sighed yet again. "I know that no self-pitying-recently-dumped person wants to hear this, but you have your whole life ahead of you, and in your case, that's quite a while, you have lived only a tiny fraction of your potential life span. There truly isn't a doubt in my mind that eventually, you'll find what you're searching for."

"Whatever you say, Nathan," Solomon muttered dismissivley as he turned to leave.

"Did you come in your own car?" Freddie called after him.

"Yes."

The ancient Chevalier appeared in front of him. "Then I suppose you could give us a ride?" he asked sweetly, batting his eyelashes and pursing his lips along with the melodramatic plea.

"No, Nathan."

"Aww! C'mon! What kind of jerk makes his brother call a cab?!"

Solomon drew in a deep breath. "Nathan, I have had a very _trying_ day, and would very much like to just go home, and have some time to myself."

"Nonsense! It's times like this when one most needs company."

Solomon knew, possibly better than anyone else, that his older brother would always manage to get his way, so rather than being pestered or further manipulated, he reluctantly acquiesced.

"Fine. I'll go get the car," he said flatly as he walked down the long, cobblestone driveway.

Once Solomon was out of earshot, Freddie addressed his ever-present imaginary audience.

"Villain with a heart of gold? Hero with a black past? No, he's a person on a quest to get what he wants, just like everyone else I've ever had the pleasure or misfortune to know. But the funny thing about _wants_ is-"

Freddie chuckled and began to sing in a near perfect Mick Jagger impersonation.

"_I saw her today at the reception, in her glass was a bleeding man, she was practiced at the art of deception, well I could tell by her blood-stained hands."_

He began to sing even louder.

"_You can't always get what you want – you cant always get what you want – you cant always get what you want - but if you try sometimes, you just might find…"_

Yuki appeared beside her husband, and the song was discontinued.

Freddie smirked as he turned to his Queen. "You know, when Solomon said _there's something I need to tell you about Saya,_ for a second there, I thought the next thing he would say would be _she really likes it when ya' slap her ass while you're tappin' it,_ or something like that."

"Freddie! That's my daughter you're talking about!" Yuki's tone changed from chiding to amusement. "But boy, if Solomon had said that, I think this lovely garden would be covered with gobs of guts and blond hair."

Freddie pinched his hint of a beard. "True, true, Haji is more powerful than he lets on, or at least he is when he's really, _really_ pissed."

Yuki glanced at the Chevalier shrinking in the distance.

"Freddie, do you feel bad?"

"Of course I do, what feeling person wouldn't upon seeing their little brother's dearest dream shattered?"

Yuki shook her head. "I mean, do you feel bad for the part you played in all of this?"

"Not at all," the ancient Chevalier answered promptly, "believe me, my love, Solomon brought this on himself. All I did was give him a little shove down a path he choose entirely on his own."

"I kinda feel sorry for him."

"Well, don't pity him too much, he did get one hell of a consolation prize, and was fortunate enough to survive the encounter."

"That's true, it was nice of you to arrange the rescue."

"Not really. While it did have something to do with genuinely caring about the boy, to be honest, there were other reasons."

"Like what?"

"_Waste not, want not._" Freddie said with a smirk. "I _may_ have use for him yet." He glanced at the sports car slowly approaching them. "But for now, he'll have to accept the life of a _dowager_ _knight_."

"I still feel sorry for him."

"Well, don't be taken in by all this poise and politesse in the face of being ill used, I think his pleasant behavior today had a little more to do with preserving some shred of pride than making others happy."

"He was an excellent _Groom_ though."

Her companion nodded. "Indeed. An excellent _Groom_." He paused and sighed. "It is a _Consort's_ destiny to spend the rest of eternity by the side of his Queen, but _Grooms_ are made only to be used and thrown away. I managed to escape that fate, but surprisingly enough, Solomon has played his role perfectly. Bravo brother, Bravo."

* * *

A few more chapters left…

I would like to take this opportunity to officially endorse and recommend **Lullabyes' **_**Bloodstone**_, which could be read as an alternate ending for _Where Black Met Gold_, and is shaping up to be an excellent piece in it's own right. Check it out!

_You Can't Always Get What You Want = _Rolling Stones, Jagger/Richards.


	32. Prince Consort

By popular demand, this chapter contains mild citrus content. No children allowed.

* * *

A fleeting bout of rain had just passed, the dark wet pavement reflected the hazy platinum glow of the street lamps of Paris, and in one specific spot, it also created a perfect, mirror like reflection of a lone man.

His deathly pale skin, his long ebony hair, his sophisticated, albeit slightly out of the ordinary style of dress, his good manners, his air of mystery… Haji was nothing like the disgusting, blood-sucking, zombie-like monsters he had heard about in his childhood. No, he was the epitome of the _modern_ concept of a vampire, as a matter of fact, his Eastern European features meant if he only some facial hair and the red eyes of his mistress, he could have passed for _the Count_ himself. Even more perversely ironic was that, unknown to him, his family had been in central Romania when he was born.

His bride of only a little more than seventeen hours was back at the hotel, exhausted from her wedding day and lack of sleep the previous night. She had remained asleep all through the drive to their Paris hotel, and hadn't even cracked an eye as her husband carried her from the car, up to their room, barely stirring as he removed the combs from her hair, undressed her down to her slip and chemise, and tucked her into the oversized bed. It was their wedding night, but strangely, he was content to watch her sleep.

That wasn't to say that pleasures of the flesh had not entered his mind, on the contrary. From adolescent musings as to what might happen if he walked into her room in the middle of the night, to the thousands of times he had stared at her, aching to touch her, to their interludes during the past few months, in which every cell in his body seemed to scream _future be damned…_ it would have been entirely understandable if he had taken her in his arms, kissing her awake and insisting on his husbandly rights the moment the door to their hotel room had closed behind them, but in fact, it was the dozens of decades of longing that stayed his hand. After waiting so long, it made no sense to rush things now.

But as he watched her sleep, mulling over his prurient plans, a far less pleasurable realization crept in.

There was one arrangement he had completely forgotten to even consider, despite the fact that, in a way, he had been preparing for this journey for decades, squirreling away money for a "time of need," rarely allowing himself to hope that it might some day be used to make their shared youthful dream come true. It wasn't anything like a fortune, but it was considerably more than one would expect from a homeless man, however well dressed and groomed. After all, in addition to his remarkable talent, Haji knew all the tricks of the trade, usually setting himself up beside upscale shops or cafes during peak hours, making over a hundred dollars on a good day, and even though his aloof nature had made him oblivious to it, his good looks also produced abnormally large tips from female passerbys. After over a hundred years with of accumulating virtually untaxable income with nearly non-existent living expenses, his cello case caught a rather considerable amount of spare change, enough for a year or two's worth of travel with his beloved, as long as they didn't get extravagant.

But in the days leading up to the wedding, there was little room in his thoughts for anything other than nuptial preparations and concerns that Saya might still change her mind (concerns that persisted right up until the moment she said _I do_)_, _and consequently, he had completely lost track of his own vampiric needs, not that he usually paid them much mind. It's easy to forget to do something that you don't want to do anyway.

He and his new bride were now officially traveling, and thus the flow of blood packs from Dr. Julia had stopped. Sustenance would have to be acquired the old fashioned way.

Ordinarily, he would have waited until he was on, or past the brink of collapse, his skin pale and cool as a corpse, but this was not an option at the moment. He had to bear in mind that more than a companion or protector, a Chevalier was a food source, and in starving himself, he would also be starving his pregnant Queen.

After all, he was now feeding for four.

It was half past three, the ideal time, in his experience. A little too early for paperboys and joggers, all but the most hardcore of partyers had gone home, and virtually all of the city's children, elderly and invalids were in bed. In order for this to work, he had to be alone with his prey, and somehow dragging them off behind a building was unacceptably barbaric in his opinion, so hunting had to be done during the stillest hours of the night, when pedestrians were sparse enough to rarely pass each other.

He was not picky, any ostensibly healthy adult would do. There was no official self-imposed criteria for picking a victim, though there were some noticeable patterns.

This time of night, there were two types of easy prey, but he avoided both. The homeless sleeping in the parks and bus stops were by far the most vulnerable, but he almost never took from them, mainly because he felt that they had enough problems, and would be unlikely to obtain proper medical care if they were to experience complications from the blood loss. The other type of easy prey – well, in the city, at this time of night, a disproportionate number of those out and about were women of a _certain _profession. He knew that sustenance could easily be acquired if he paid such a woman for her services, and once isolated, could get what he really came for in the guise of a love-bite. But he still never intentionally preyed upon _those_ women. He hated drinking blood, but he did have some _taste_.

Other than that, he really didn't care.

Large strides carried him to one of the more densely populated areas of Paris, a fairly well-lit street lined with apartment buildings atop ground level shops.

He didn't crouch in alleyways, waiting for a chance to ambush, he would simply walk up and down the streets, melting into the scenery, searching for an graveyard shift worker commuting home on foot, a drunk waiting for a cab or any random insomniac passer-by to keep his growing family healthy.

In that way, it occasionally called his mind to distant memories of long walks on invisible paths through forests and meadows, trailing after his grandmother. She had reached an age at which bending over had become more than just uncomfortable, so it was her grandson's job to pick the plants she pointed out, often taking it upon herself to explain their use. Some were for specific ailments, but most were chosen simply because they could fill the void in one's stomach without causing any serious illness, food that you consume, not because you want to eat, but because you need to survive.

As he singled out his prey, he could almost hear his grandmother, speaking in a language he had all but completely forgotten, giving him a piece of wisdom just as true in the context of his childhood as it was of his current situation.

_You may not want to eat it, but unlike hunger, it will not make our family sick._

A lone pedestrian. He wasn't certain of the gender, due to the long, padded coat, and the hood covering the back of their head. The elongated heels of the shoes suggested that it was a woman, but such fashions were not that uncommon on a man in 2039 Paris. The brisk walk suggested that they were reasonably healthy.

They would do.

He gradually drew close enough for his chiropteran senses to make a few more specific distinctions.

_Definitely an adult female. _

Having no idea that she was being stalked by a hematophagous demon, she came to a stop as her pocket emitted a series of high-pitched beeps, pulling out her phone, holding the screen up to her face to read whatever message she had just received.

That was the opportunity he was looking for.

To her, it must have seemed like someone had materialized out of thin air directly behind her, and before she could turn to face the apparition, one of his hands was on her shoulder, while the other gave a firm jab to a specific pressure point on the back of her neck.

It was an old ninja trick he had picked up from the one who had taught Saya how to wield katana. In 1885, he and his mistress had chased rumors of Diva half way around the world, to a rapidly modernizing island nation where Saya was fascinated to discover, many of the people bore some vague resemblance to herself, at least compared to the Europeans she had spent her whole life amongst. It was there that they had befriended a man known only by his trade name, "Without-sound," a blacksmith who kept his past well shrouded in mystery. Fate threw him into their path and eventually, he took it upon himself to teach Saya a style of fencing who's slashing movements were far more effective than the lunges and parries she had previously mastered, replacing the trivial punctures and scratches of her rapier with the devastating slashes and decapitations of a modified katana, to be housed in a secret compartment in a custom-made steel cello case. Saya had great respect for the old man, which prompted Haji's subsequent suggestion that she use his name as an alias, in order to better evade their enemies. Taking on the name "Otonashi" had the added benefit of preventing stupid questions as to how an unmarried Asian girl ended up with a name like 'Goldschmidt," and why she and her companion shared the same surname despite ostensibly not being related by blood and claiming not to be married.

As he made use of old Otonashi's trick, there was no scream from his prey, simply a peaceful exhalation as she fell into forced sleep, her phone slipping from her hand and falling to the wet pavement.

He wasted no time in pulling back the hood, pushing aside her hair and letting out an involuntary hiss as his fangs slowly penetrated the side of her neck. The specialized ivory canines dug into her flesh until they hit the rubbery surface of the carotid artery, the sharp points creating two needle-sized punctures in the tube, then retracting, his lips forming a firm gasket of suction around the wound as the warm blood flowed down his throat.

He recalled how he had once truly dreaded the notion of having to teach all this to Riku, but fate had cancelled the lesson through the most tragic means imaginable. Few realized that the boy's death had affected him just as deeply as anyone else, in a way, Riku was Haji's little brother too, or at least, that was how Diva's Chevaliers would have put it. No one knew that amongst Haji's meager material possessions, one of the most treasured was the photo-booth picture of Saya, Riku and Kai. The pictures had come in a set of four, and his kind hearted young charge had given the spare to his enigmatic mentor. Haji almost never actually looked at it, but often found himself running his finger under the lining of his cello case to make sure it hadn't disappeared. The grief was no longer fresh, nor was it gone, but at the same time, he was aware of the fact that the boy hadn't died in vain. In passing on his genes just before death, he had changed Diva's blood from deadly to harmless, and in doing so, eventually he would save Saya's life from beyond the grave. There was some slight comfort in that notion, while it didn't make Riku's death any less tragic, it did make it a little less senseless. His last act on earth was to save the life of his Queen. For a Chevalier, what more glorious end could there be?

He could imagine the look of horror and disgust the soft-hearted boy would have displayed if he could see his mentor now, rapidly sucking the life out of an unwilling stranger.

The cold numbness of his extremities began to fade as the life-giving nectar diffused into his bloodstream. It was extremely difficult to convince himself that the feeling was unpleasant, but he did none the less. Perhaps denial was yet another skill he acquired from his mistress, in addition to fencing and cello.

The flow of blood slowed, pressure decreasing by a nearly immeasurable amount, and that was his signal to stop. He pulled away from the woman's neck, looking down at his own handiwork to make sure that the bleeding had stopped. He placed his leftovers in a sitting position on a near by bench, still limp and unconscious. He knew that she would wake up at any second, but he also knew better than to leave an unconscious woman on the street in this part of the city even for a short period of time, and stood by until she regained consciousness, in order to ward off any other predators.

When she finally came to, the dizziness nearly caused her to fall off the bench. It was several seconds yet until she became aware of her surroundings, and it was then that she looked up and finally caught sight of the solemn faced stranger standing before her, wiping the moisture off her phone on the breast of his suit.

"You dropped this," he said tonelessly as he handed her the device and proceeded to walk past her.

She stared blankly for a moment before perceiving a mild, though stinging pain and her hand made it's way up to the site of the discomfort, localized around what felt like a pair of small puncture wounds.

Her hand left her neck and hovered in front of her face as she squinted through the darkness to see the smear of blood now on her palm.

She whirled around, eyes searching for the tall young man, but he seemed to have vanished.

"Un vampire?"

* * *

The rain had resumed outside, tapping lightly at the window as it's clear cabochons rolled down the glass.

Saya gave a soft coo as she awoke amongst soft blankets, and tensed briefly, realizing that she was in an unfamiliar place.

_Where am I? Where's Haji?_

She quickly caught sight of her Chevalier standing a few feet away from the bed, now in his every-day suit once again. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and when they opened again, he was sitting on the bed, leaning over her.

It only took her a few seconds to realize that she was at the hotel they had reserved for the first few days following the wedding, and while that knowledge was enough to soothe her high-strung apprehensions, she was still slightly confused.

"You fell asleep, so I put you in bed," he said, essentially answering her question before she could ask it.

"Oh – thank you, I was _really_ tired," she said as she sat up.

As the honeymooners gazed at each other, an awkward silence took hold, possibly for the first time in their relationship. Everyone knows what the bride and groom are supposed to do when they get to the hotel, and they both stared at each other in silent contemplation as to how such a pivotal moment should be initiated.

Saya spoke first. "Um, would you mind if I took a shower?"

She hadn't bathed since early the previous morning, her face was still chalky with yesterday's make up, her hair still crunchy with yesterday's hairspray. Intimacy in such a condition seemed somewhat unappealing, or at least inconsistent with idyllic preconceptions.

"Of course not."

She kissed him on the cheek and walked over to the bathroom.

As she bathed, she reflected on his actions, or lack there of, late the previous night.

_He is so sweet – but I feel kind of bad, it was his wedding night and he just tucked me in and let me sleep._

The truth was, he had waited for over a century, he was perfectly capable of waiting another few hours. If there was one trait that was more central to his personality than loyalty, it was patience.

After finishing her shower and brushing her teeth, she wrapped the under-sized hotel towel around her and took a deep breath as she opened the door.

Haji was standing by the small dining table, and she noted a subtle change in his attire.

_I wonder why he took off his tailcoat?_

She considered this for a moment.

_Could he be trying to tell me something? _

"I ordered some breakfast for you," he stated, gesturing to the silver-domed serving platter on the table beside him.

"Thanks, Haji."

She didn't move from the bathroom doorway as he gazed at her.

"Um, Haji, could you please turn around so I can get dressed?"

He subtly arched a brow. He hadn't expected marriage to _drastically _change their relationship, but he had thought that he would at least no longer be required to turn his back to her whenever she was undressed.

"Please, Haji."

He turned around, and she crept toward her one, small suitcase (they were traveling _heavily_), pulling out a red garment box, still taped shut - that was to keep him from peeking. Her fingernails slit through the seal, opening the box and pulling aside the tissue paper.

His eyes narrowed slightly, the noises indicating that she had opened that mysterious sealed box.

"Okay, I'm dressed."

Like her wedding dress, it was quite different from the modern conception of a honeymoon costume, no transparent chiffon, no expository lace.

His lips parted slightly, his face forming into an engrossed, yet somehow blank expression. Someone less familiar with his subtle affect might have thought him unimpressed.

"Do you like it?"

He nodded absentmindedly as his eyes meandered over the ensemble.

It was a decorative blossom-pink corset, laces at the back, fastened by tiny hidden hooks at the front, and a pair of bloomer-like pantalettes.

There was no need for her to explain the reasons for choosing this outfit. This was how she would have presented herself to him had they been married in the 1880s, as he had originally hoped. More importantly, she had managed to deduce the fantasy that had dominated Haji's daydreams since he was thirteen, or rather, since that rainy day in the barn when her former lack of modesty seemed to single-handedly trigger his descent into puberty.

His eyes took their time in making their way up to her face, and when he saw her lips curl in a slight smile, that was all the invitation he needed. He slowly approached, continuing to savor the vision before him until his arms finally locked around her and a mutually initiated kiss ensued, lips clinching in ardent gulps as he hunched over his beloved mistress. At first he didn't take it any farther for fear of appearing insensitively eager.

Fortunately she was bound by no such concern. She took a step back, staring at him intently as she parted the first hook and eye at the top of her corset, but found him gently grasping her hands before she could unfasten the next one. She was confused by his interference for a moment before it occurred to her that he might want to do the honors himself, but instead of reaching for the hooks, he gathered her in his arms, kissing her deeply as he began to fuss with the laces at her back.

She smirked against his lips, intrigued and amused by his rejection of the expedient nudity offered by the hooks in favor of the tantalizingly tedious laces, no doubt something he had worked out in his mind over a century ago. The barrier between them slowly unraveled, kisses occasionally wandering to the neck or an ear, but always finding their way back to their point of origin, and after what seemed like an eternity, the corset finally fell to the ground. One tug of the bow tied round her waist was enough to take care of the pantalettes.

Without further ado, he scooped her up into his arms, fingers making small, incognizant strokes against her skin as he carried her to the bed, and immediately proceeded to toss aside his own clothes.

She had never seen him completely disrobed in broad-daylight. Excluding their first late-night foray in Maui, complete nudity had never been allowed during their interludes, a unspoken agreement meant to keep things from going too far. She smiled as she looked him over, fair to the point of pallor, thin almost to the point of lankieness, many women would have likely deemed these unfortunate faults on an otherwise perfect specimen, but such a thought had never crossed her mind. Love has a way of erasing such "imperfections," or at very least, making them irrelevant.

For his part, he had seen her undressed many times in many circumstances, ranging from when she emerged from her cocoon, to retreats from battles so gruesome that her cloths were ripped from her body along with slabs of skin. In every case, he was barred from full enjoyment of the situation, by peril, by duty, by honor, or more recently, a strange combination of the three.

Her body had been something that remained out of his reach even when it was in his arms… until now, as she stared up at him from atop the bed's lavender-gray coverlet, her smile suggesting that she wanted him just as badly.

In spite, or perhaps in compliment of her smile, a glistening tear slipped from her eye, and he reacted in the same way he would have under any other circumstances. His forearms slid under her back, palm up, as if cradling her in his arms, and hers clung tightly around him, returning the embrace. All patience, on both sides, seemed to instantly evaporate as the full spread of their flesh converged, adhering firmly together by grasp and gravity, cool creamy satin meeting sweltering peach velvet with an imperceptible sizzle.

He heard a telltale ringing in his ears and his eyelids immediately closed tightly around the glow blooming behind them.

Seized by a state of rapt suspense, she held her breath as they united, finally letting out a deep, wavering sigh as the last missing piece of their relationship clicked into place. His arms tightened around her, the thought that he was invading the home of another man's children completely drowned out by the melting heat that encompassed him.

Finally triumphant over fate's cruel conspiracy to prevent this moment, their victory dance began with the same synchronized grace as they had always displayed during the hundreds of battles they had faced, side by side.

Her head tilted back, pressing into her pillow, coincidentally providing her with a better view of his face, which she instantly found herself studying. She was utterly captivated by the vision, charmed by the blush on his pale cheeks, and fascinated by the unnamable mixture of emotions it now overtly displayed, amongst which, a century and a half's worth of unfathomable love and poignant frustration. All that he habitually concealed, now poured brazenly across his features, as if the ever-present wall around his emotions had become a window.

But his tightly closed eyes seemed out of place amongst such transparency.

"_Haji,_ _open your eyes_."

The command seemed impossibly clear amongst the fervid panting and pleasured whimpers. He heard her voice, but because his eyes had been closed, he didn't realize that it didn't come from her lips.

His eyes remained tightly shut in defiance of her order, despite his own desperate desire to look at her. He knew that the ringing in his ears signified the glowing eyes that he so rarely experienced, and she had only ever seen him like that once, the day they left the zoo, when he had given into his chiropteran powers. For as long as he lived, he would never forget how she had looked at him, when she saw the inhuman light in his eyes, black chiroptera wings at his back, his monstrous claws drenched in human blood spilled for her protection. The glow was extinguished, his wings drooping in shame when he saw her staring at him, eye's widened in shock, her hands over her mouth as if to stifle a terrified scream. He knew that when she looked at him that day, she was seeing a monster.

So he denied her request for fear of ruining this beautiful moment by frightening her with a glow, so similar to Diva's. He distracted her with a vehement kiss, instinct guiding his lips to hers in spite of his self imposed blindness.

Slick friction muffling conscious thought, it was some time before the notion came back into her head.

"_Why wont you look at me, Haji?"_

Telepathy amongst their own kind was common, but it had been amongst the powers he had stubbornly suppressed for most of his life. Because he never outright acknowledged any of her rare, unwitting messages, she wasn't even aware that she was capable of it, such instances lost amongst all the other wordless communiqués that routinely passed between them. Needless to say, the current primal connection seemed to awaken this instinctual ability, supplementing a spiritual understanding that existed beyond telepathy.

She reached up and gently caressed his eyelids. "_Please Haji."_

He was never any good at saying no to her, a tendency that once got him killed, and once caused him to make a heartbreaking vow to take her life with his own hands.

He slowed to a stop, eyelids reluctantly parting to reveal what he had been trying to hide, more than half expecting to find her face contorted into the same horrified expression he had hoped never to see again. But to his surprise, he simply found a smiling face encircling her own glow, eyes the brilliant scarlet of a setting sun after a wildfire, brighter than he had ever seen them in battle.

A resemblance to Diva didn't even occur to her as she admired the instinct-induced glow of her husband's eyes, the bright, pale-blue light that signifies the hottest flame, their usual air of mystery replaced by a strangely erotic element of danger.

"_Beautiful_."

Eyes remained locked, maintaining a link of unparalleled emotional trust as their dance resumed, pace and momentum building to a final thrilling sprint toward an invisible but intensely palpable destination, the sense of touch bleeding through to the other senses, crossing the border between body and mind.

Beyond sex, or even love-making, it was consummation in every sense of the word, a love long denied finally reaching it's resplendent fruition as one continuous being ignited in explosive rapture.

Breakfast lay forgotten on the table, as cold and meaningless as they might have been without each other.

* * *

Her eyelashes brushed against his chest as they opened. There was no need for the question she often asked herself upon awakening. She knew she was in bed at the hotel, and Haji was directly beneath her.

After only a moment of recuperation, he had managed to flip the two of them over, reversing their positions, still entwined as they wordlessly drifted off into blissful repose. She awoke to find herself still limply straddling him, his arms loosely sealed around her, the rise and fall of his chest reminiscent of the sway of a ship on a clam sea.

She shifted to look up at him, finding his face with a more relaxed expression than she could recall ever having seen before, his eyes closed, his body completely motionless.

_If I didn't know better, I'd say that he's sleeping._

_That's impossible, isn't it?_

She studied his face more carefully.

_It sure looks like sleep. Only one way to find out…_

"Are you asleep?"

"Yes," he mumbled, his entire body remaining completely motionless, save his lips.

She arched a brow in surprise at the clearly facetious statement. "Are you – are you joking?"

"No," he said, now clearly trying to hide a smirk, but not succeeding.

"You are!" she giggled delightedly.

"You are my wife now, you are _obligated_ put up with my nonsense," he chuckled along with a wry grin.

They shared a laugh that was more due to transcendent happiness than humor, both reveling in the sensation of the other's body, convulsing in the laugh they so adored.

Saya closed her eyes as she nestled her body up against his once more.

_My life is perfect._

She realized the phrase she had just thought.

_My life is perfect._

Her eyes opened.

_I am completely happy._

_There is nothing I need to do that I don't want to do, nowhere I need to go that I don't want to go._

_My life is perfect._

'_My' life is perfect. _

Her mind was invaded by a far more familiar, darker thought.

Haji's eyes opened.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't deserve this_,_" she said with a genuine, dispirited sigh. "After all the harm I've done, I don't deserve to be this happy."

"Do you really believe that?"

She nodded against his chest.

"Why?"

"How can you ask that that?" she asked incredulously as she sat up. "You know that people have died because of me, my dad - "

He interrupted her for the first time ever. "- was killed by delta 67, you only did what he begged you to, you helped him die as a brave man instead of a mindless monster."

"Riku - "

"Was killed by Diva."

"But if it wasn't for me, he would have never gotten involved -"

"And you begged Kai to take him back to Okinawa, but they didn't listen. If it wasn't for you, Riku would have died long before that that day on the ship, you gave him several valuable months of life."

"Even so, miss Clara and her men -"

"Were killed by that Chevalier."

"That's not true!" she shouted. "I saw the sword slashes on Miss Clara's body -"

"Because the Chevalier picked her up and threw her at you, you swung in defense." He knew what she would bring up next, and spoke preemptively. "As for the incident during the war, that was not your fault, you were not in control."

"I killed those people!"

"But you were not at fault." He paused. "I am more to blame than you, I helped the Red Shield wake you prematurely, even though, somehow, I – I knew it was a bad idea, I helped them out of my own selfish desire to be with you."

His voice actually cracked with emotion, and her throat tightened from hearing it.

"Saya, when you were revived - when you looked at me - when I saw your eyes – it was the same look you always have when I wake you from a nightmare, it was like you were sleepwalking, you were not in control, and when you wounded that Chevalier and he ran from you, he lured you into that village, I am certain he was using the civilians as a distraction to cover his retreat."

"Why are you saying this?! What do you know?! How could you possibly understand any-"

"I was there!" he shouted.

She stared at him, mouth slightly ajar in stunned silence.

The shocked, and even slightly frightened look on her face made his resolve waiver slightly, but it was too late to stop now. He had spent too long standing by in silence while she tortured herself, occasionally building up enough nerve to gently contradict her belief in her own guilt, only to pull back apologetically when she angrily rebuked him for it. He knew that it wouldn't be much of a stretch for her to break ties with him during such a confrontation, a contingency that he desperately wanted to avoid for both their sakes. His silence was enforced by a fear of loosing her, but now they were bound together in such a way as to help prevent such a rash, impulsive separation, and should she order him to leave anyway, at least she would be reasonably safe without him, her enemies having been eliminated.

It was finally time for him to speak up.

"I was there, Saya, at the Zoo, in Russia, in London, in Paris, at Yanbaru, on the Red Shield and in Vietnam."

She was still speechless.

"What's more, the Vietnam massacre was a trap, meticulously planned by Diva's Chevaliers in order to destroy the alliance between the US and the red shield, they intentionally manipulated you into killing. You were not the real cause of those deaths."

It took her a moment to respond. " How could you know that?"

"I think you can guess who told me."

"Solomon?"

He nodded.

She appeared lost in thought for at least half a minute. "Even if all that is true, I was still the one who released Diva in the first place, all the people she killed, all the evil she caused was because of me."

"Do you even hear yourself? How can you be responsible for someone else's actions? Its completely illogical."

Tears were welling in her eyes.

"Saya, even if you still believe you are responsible for these things, you have atoned for them ten fold at least. For every life you believe you have taken, you have saved a thousand, probably more!"

"But if I never existed, no one would have been put in danger in the first place!"

"Are you saying that you hold yourself responsible just for existing? That does not make sense, Saya. You had absolutely no control over when and into what circumstances you were born. Blame Joel, blame God, blame your mother if you must, but not yourself." His voice softened to a more becoming tone. "I know you Saya, and I know that you have never _wanted_ to hurt anybody." He paused. "Tell me, why did you release Diva?"

"Because I was careless and impulsive and stupid and - and bad!"

"That's not a reason." Haji shook his head and continued to speak softly. "Think back. Why did you decide to release her?"

"I-" she stared at the wall for several seconds before speaking in a flattened, quiet voice, long ponderous pauses springing up as she spoke. "She told me that she'd never been outside before, she'd been locked in the tower for her whole life – I felt so sad for her –it was almost sounded like something from a fairy tale, a girl locked in a tower, I wondered who could have done such a terrible thing, who would have done that to a little girl, I thought Joel must not have known about it – I remembered that he had a key in his desk that he said could unlock any door on the grounds, so I thought it might work in the tower – and I wanted her to sing at Joel's birthday – I used to think her song was so beautiful, I wanted everyone to hear it." A tear rolled down her cheek, and she let out a brief sob. "I was so proud of myself, I thought I was doing such a good thing, I was rescuing that little girl and she would come to Joel's party and sing and her song would make everyone feel happy like it did for me. I was so stupid and horrible -"

"No Saya. There was no way you could have known that she was dangerous. Given the information you had, I think any kind-hearted person would have freed her just as you did. If you must blame someone for Diva's actions, then blame Amshel and Joel, they were the ones who made Diva what she was. Grateful as I am to both of them for bringing me into your life, I believe they must have known the cruelty and potential danger of their experiments on Diva, and we now know that Amshel was the one behind all the subsequent plots, if anything, releasing her from his prison probably hurt his plans. If she had remained his prisoner, subject to his whims instead of the other way around, he probably would have achieved his goals much earlier, the world would have been over run by chiropterans decades ago. Joel and Amshel knew right from wrong, and they choose wrong, and many have suffered for it, but you - all you wanted to do was help a stranger and please your father, and when you discovered the indirect repercussions of your actions, you immediately set out to make things right, and to protect the innocents of the world from a monster that YOU didn't create. I challenge anyone to find a single person who, given the whole story, would begrudge you a happy life after so many years of toil and sacrifice."

He placed his hand on her cheek, wiping away the tear. "Saya, cant you see, you're not a murderer or a monster. You are simply a person who has suffered through tragedy after tragedy after tragedy just because of one innocent mistake, and your righteous efforts to correct it."

Her hands and jaw trembled as her mind digested these words which so greatly conflicted with her fundamental view of herself and her life, and yet she knew it was the truth, not just because of their undeniable logic, but because they were coming from the one person in the world that she trusted completely.

She threw herself into his arms and cried with even more passion and volume than she had over the dead body of her twin sister. The guilt that had virtually been a central trait of her personality, the emotion that loomed over every other feeling, had suddenly been snatched away when her husband tore apart her delusions of sole responsibility for decades of bloodshed.

It was as if an enormous tumor had been ripped from her very soul, causing what remained to crash down around the empty space.

The wailing sobs filled the room as Haji held her tightly, crying softly himself.

It was several minutes before either spoke, still clinging to each other, now even more naked than they had been at the beginning of the conversation.

"Saya, I am not asking you to make peace with the past, and I am certainly not asking you to forget it, I know _I_ wont. All I ask is-" he leaned down, placing his face in her field of vision, bloodshot blue meeting bloodshot burgundy-brown, "don't ever grow to hate yourself."

* * *

Remember that scene where David asks Haji if he got his therapist's license?

Please review! OOC? Too corny? I'm dying to know!

One more chapter to go!


	33. Tabula Rasa

Here it is, the final chapter! Don't forget to review, when your done! Please? Please with hot fudge and a cherry on top?

* * *

The morning sunlight shown through the lace curtains, creating an intricate pattern of shadows that danced across her milk-white skin as she slept.

She stirred slightly when a familiar sound caressed her ears.

She recognized it instantly and let out a soft sigh of contentment as she decided to stay in bed and indulge in the music. She knew those notes better than anything else in the world, and no matter how many times she heard them, they always made her heart swell with joy. Whenever she heard those notes, she knew beyond any doubt that she was safe and loved.

She lay in bed, eyes still closed, wrapped in a beautiful song and white blankets.

Almost the moment the song ended, she felt a warm, comforting hand sweep across her forehead. Her ocean-blue eyes slowly opened and focused on her mother, smiling down at her.

"Good morning, precious."

"Morning mommy!" she said as she stretched and sat up in bed. "Mommy, can I see my sister today?"

"Precious, you ask that every day and the answer still hasn't changed – your sister's on her honeymoon, it would be inconsiderate for us to bother her until she gets back."

"But I want to see her," she whined.

Her mother smiled. "Patience, precious, you will have the rest of eternity to get to know her."

She let out a deep sigh. "I wish I could remember her." She paused. "Mommy, why can't I remember anything from before?"

The ancient Queen's eyes widened slightly, before she regained her composure. "You were performing at the old Metropolitan Opera House when there was a terrible explosion and you were _killed_. But a few months ago, I was able to bring you back to life, though you lost your memories in the process. For our kind, long periods of unconsciousness usually result in amnesia."

This was by no means the first, and would definitely not be the last half-truth she or her husband would tell their amnesiac daughter.

"Will my memories ever come back?"

Yuki gave a comforting smile. "No precious, they wont. For our kind, memories can only return if you drink the blood of your Chevalier."

"Chevalier? Isn't that what daddy is?"

"Yes, daddy is my Chevalier."

"Do I have any Chevaliers?"

"You did at one time, but they were bad men who were very cruel to you, I am truly glad you don't remember them. But don't worry, they have been dead for a long time. Your sister killed them, with a little help from her Chevaliers.

"My sister killed them so they wouldn't be able to hurt me?"

It only took a moment for Yuki to consider her answer. "Yes, precious. She killed them to keep you, and all the whole world safe from them."  
"Then she saved me. That was nice of her."

Yuki decided that this moment presented a good learning opportunity, and scooted closer. "And when someone does something nice for you, you should - ?" she asked, clearly intending for her daughter to finish the sentence.

The girl's face wrinkled in deep thought, as if she were a first grader computing a difficult sum. "I should – I should say thank you and try to do something nice for them?" she answered tentatively.

Yuki smiled and patted her softly on the head. "Very good Diva, that's exactly right. But remember, acts of kindness are always appropriate, and super fun too!" she declared with an enthusiasm generally reserved for talking with young children.

"Hmmm." Diva nodded, her face assuming a ponderous expression, as if contemplating a novel but intriguing bit of abstract philosophy.

"Come on now, time to get up – Daddy's making pancakes and fruit, and we have to be at the temple at eleven."

"Aww! Do I have ta?" she protested, "chanting sutras is boring!"

Yuki placed her hand on her daughter's shoulder. "I'm afraid so, precious. I wouldn't be a proper mother if I didn't make you do unpleasant things in order to help you become a better person, so come on and get dressed."

Yuki made her exit, and Diva sighed as she slid out of bed, approaching a waist-high dresser with a large glass terrarium sitting on it, the enclosure's base covered in a layer of bark, in the center, a hollow ceramic castle that was clearly meant for a goldfish tank. Getting dressed seemed to slip her mind for the moment as she tapped on the glass.

"Good morning Vlad!" she chirped cheerfully.

A tarantula the size of a human hand immerged from a borough under the castle.

"You want some breakfast too?" she asked sweetly.

The gigantic spider reared up on it's hind legs, it's forelimbs pressed against the glass just opposite Diva's fingers.

"Yes, you are a cutie pie!" she tittered as if talking to a baby, immediately proceeding to open the drawer just beneath the tank. She pulled out a small mesh cage full of live crickets, slid back the lid of the terrarium, and shoved a few of the bugs into the tarantula's lair.

Diva watched in childlike fascination as her pet impaled one of the unfortunate insects on one of its enormous, furry fangs.

"Yummy yummy, eh Vlad? Now you eat all your breakfast! Be a good boy for _mommy_!"

* * *

The lush, manicured garden was enclosed in a sculpted glass atrium adjacent to the house. The emerald grass was always perfectly groomed, as was the eclectic collection of boxwood topiaries. An artificial waterfall created an ambiance of white noise as it poured into the lotus covered koi pond. A few feet away sat a glass and wrought-iron table atop a marble patio, bordered by a row of rather unique rose bushes, each individual plant featuring blooms of two separate colors, a look achieved through careful grafting.

Yuki stood on the arched bridge over the pond, arms folded atop the rail as she gazed idly down at the water. Freddie, wearing an apron and carrying a steaming tray, strode past her on his way to the patio table nearby.

"How is our precious Diva this morning, my love?" Freddie asked as he began to arrange the three place settings.

"She seems well," Yuki paused. "She asked me why she doesn't remember anything though, so - I told her _the truth_ we settled on."

"I see."

"She also asked to see Saya again," Yuki said with a note of exasperation.

Freddie continued to lay out the silverware. "Any word from the newly-weds, lately?"

"No, but I suppose no news is good news."

Freddie laughed. "I'm sure they're too busy gettin' busy."

Yuki smirked. "You know, it's been almost two years, she should be sporting quite a belly by now."

Freddie put his fist to his chin. "Poor thing, I bet she is getting all sorts of condescending _you poor, poor slut _looks, seeing as she appears to be a very pregnant sixteen-year-old." He smirked. "And can you imagine all the glares Haji must be getting, walking hand-in-hand with her? I bet every woman they pass stares daggers at him and thinks what a bastard he is for knocking up that little girl!" he laughed. "Little do they know…"

"I'm sure it doesn't bother them." She paused. "Oh, I cant wait until the babies are born!"

Freddie grinned. "Can you imagine what they're going to look like? Solomon is quite a hunk of eye-candy, at least in a boring, slightly-effeminate teen-idol sort of way, and Saya -" he appeared behind his wife, caressing her waist suggestively, "well, she is your daughter, after all."

Yuki giggled. "I guess your right, half Saya and half Solomon – they are going to be jaw-droppingly beautiful."

Freddie placed a kiss on her shoulder before returning to his work and changing the subject. "I've been thinking, Diva has done so well with the applied behavioral analysis, and I really think she's internalized what we've taught her -"

Yuki smirked. "Yes, I suppose we're the only parents in history to intentionally teach our daughter how to _play with her food."_

Freddie laughed heartily. "Right you are, my love, right you are." He paused. "Well, because of her progress, what would you say to enrolling her in school next term?"

Yuki's lips parted in surprise, their corners curling with glee. "Do you really think she's ready for that?"

Freddie put his fist to his chin for a moment before nodding. "I think so. At this point, I'd say she's no crazier than your average high schooler, and she needs to be spending more time with kids her own age – figuratively speaking, of course. After all, that's the whole point of preventing the obliteration of her remains and keeping them stashed in my closet until the time was right - she deserves to have a normal, happy life."

Yuki nodded, though her smile faded a moment later, a sober stare falling over the side of the foot-bridge.

"What's wrong, my love?" Freddie asked, sensing that something was troubling her.

"I've been thinking…" she paused, gazing down at the swirling, pearlescent fish. "I want her to have a full happy life, don't you think that should include having a mate, someday?" She paused again. "But I don't know how that's going to work out, she has already had children – she'll never be able to make another Chevalier."

Freddie appeared by her side. "Don't you worry about that my love."

"How can I not worry about it? It's going to be a real problem – I mean, I suppose there're always humans, but they grow old and die so quickly. I don't want her to go through the pain of outliving her mates over and over again – and having to sleep with wrinkly old men in the mean time."

"I told you before my love, I have it all planned out," he said with a knowing smile.

Yuki squinted at him skeptically.

"I know of a certain single Chevalier that has to rebound someday," Freddie sang cheerfully.

Yuki took a moment to think. "Isn't he still hung up on Saya?"

"He'll to get over her eventually, and when he does – well – if you can't have the woman you want, who better than her almost-identical twin sister? Besides, in all honesty, I think he always did love Diva, but she was a lost cause, so, self-absorbed and impatient as he was, he gave up on her. Personally, I think that's why he fell so hard for Saya, so quickly – she was a comparatively sane, warm-hearted version of Diva – and that's exactly what we have here – a comparatively sane, warm-hearted version of Diva."

Yuki smiled and softly clapped her hands for a moment before leaping forward and giving her Chevalier a grateful kiss.

"So you see, I have it all planned out," he declared with a self-satisfied smile. "I'm sure it will be a few years yet, but I can just _see_ the wedding already," he said, whimsically clasping his hands under his chin. " – oodles of blue roses -" he paused and chuckled "-and he'll be wearing one of those heinous white suits."

* * *

END

* * *

Tabula rasa: (Latin) blank slate

No promises, but if my readers are interested, I may do a sequel. This last chapter should give you a good guess as to the subject matter (Diva gets a new chance at life, Solomon gets a new chance at love…), but at this point I am hesitant to commit myself to anything. However, I will definitely be releasing a short prequel.

I would like to extend a HUGE thank you to Lullabyes and SheDevil85 for all of their immensely useful input, help and feedback. If you like this story, than be sure to check out Lullabyes' Bloodstone, the excellent story of what could have happened if Saya chose Solomon.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has reviewed, believe it or not, the reviews have truly effected the story, not just in that they provided motivation to keep writing, but without them, I probably wouldn't have had the nerve to push the envelope so much with this fic.

If you haven't reviewed yet (* bats eyelashes and smiles sweetly at those who have put this story on their Favorite/Alert list*), then I hope you will, and you lurkers too (yes, I really am talking to you)! I crave feedback and validation!

Because I love my reviewers so much, I have a little present for you (you're on the honor system, people): A little Blood+ goodness for your ipod or whatever (a little homemade rehash of the soundtrack). Think of it as the prize at the bottom of the cereal box. Go to my profile for the link. It'll be removed in a few weeks, so get it while you can.

Other random author's notes (that you are under no obligation to read, but if your curious)…

I had two main goals in writing this story. First, was to entertain people, to write the sort of story that I thought _I_ might enjoy. Second, was to turn the staunch Solomon fans into Haji sympathizers, and to turn the staunch Haji fans into Solomon sympathizers. I do hope I have succeeded in at least one of those goals.

This story started out as a one shot, originally meant only to convey how and why I thought Solomon survived ep. 47.

The occasional use of Japanese honorifics was an attempt to keep the story in line with the English novelization of the series (which I recommend, at least if you are as into Blood+ as I am).

The wedding boutonnières were indeed symbolic in terms of real Victorian Floriography. Blue roses really do signify "unattainable love," I did not make that up. Pink roses traditionally symbolize friendship and gratitude. Red roses traditionally symbolize passionate love. I should note that Japan has it's own system of floral symbolism (though many of the meanings are similar), but that's not what I was using.

Yuki's appearance is based on the white-dressed character in the second series intro. She always struck me as not quite looking like either Saya or Diva, and her gesticulation struck me as maternal.

The peacock tailed bird that is occasionally mentioned is stylized after an Asian "_phoenix_," which is often traditionally used as a symbol for a queen or empress, in addition to the western/middle eastern meaning of rebirth.

The names Ruka and Akahana theoretically mean _Blue Flower _and_ Red Flower. _Taken from a baby-name website.

Yuki's old name (and that of her sister) were created by blindly typing letters and then sprinkling in a few vowels.

Hawaii was used as a setting because its always a good idea to write what you know. Don't know much about Okinawa, never been there. I have spent a lot of time on Oahu though (whole buncha of relatives there), and it seemed to be a suitably exotic locale.

Oh, and I do apologize if the fight scenes and lemons were shabby, not exactly my specialty, which I guess would be plot twists and (attemptedly) witty dialog.

Well, that's all I can think of. Thank you for reading and an even bigger thank you for reviewing!

Anonymousness


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